Supporting Space

The Planetary Society is asking for signatures on a petition to the US Congress calling for continued government support of the US space program. Here's the text of the petition:

Dear Senator McCain and Representative Boehlert:

The tragic loss of the seven courageous Columbia astronauts should – rightly – force careful review of all of NASA’s procedures. Shortcomings and failures need to be found and corrected to prevent a recurrence, and make human spaceflight as safe as possible.

Traveling into space is inherently dangerous, but each failure can also be a way to advance the cause of exploration. The hearings over which you will soon preside can contribute mightily to this important goal.

But, it is essential that the naysayers – who have long opposed a vital and intrepid space program of science and planetary exploration – not be allowed to use the Columbia disaster as an excuse to cripple NASA, or distract the agency from its core purpose of exploration science and discovery.

I urge you to support thorough hearings, solving NASA’s problems, and going forward with a vital program of human and robotic space exploration.

If you want to add your name, you can do so here. (You don't need to be a US citizen to sign.)

Yet Another Stupid Quiz! Please, Somebody Stop Me!


Japan -
Viewed as the technological powerhouse of the 21st
Century, it has lived a reletively solemn and
singular history.

Positives:
Technologically Advanced.
Economic Superpower.
Healthy Populace.

Negatives:
Small.
Isolated and Sometimes Ignored.
Unlucky with Disasters.

Which Country of the World are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Hmm, why do I feel an urge to watch some anime, then get stomped on by Godzilla?

And Remember, "It Is Inappropriate to Kiss Anyone You Haven't Previously Held at Gunpoint."

Via Snarkcake, it's The X-Files Etiquette Handbook, with lots of wise advice for how to get along in the big, weird world of government conspiracies and alien abductions. I imagine it's probably even funnier if you're a bigger X-Files fan than I am.

Here's a sample, on "introductions":

In this era of blended families, it is permissible to refer to half-sisters or step-siblings, but it is not necessary to detail the exceedingly personal such as "This is my half-sister by my mother and my arch-enemy" or "This is the test-tube human-alien hybrid developed from one of my ova".

Mutiny on the HMS Buffy (WARNING: Spoilers for Last Night's Episode)

Well, the plot is still creeping along... I do wish it'd creep a little faster, though. At only three episodes left in the series, it doesn't really have very much longer to get wherever it's going. And, yeah, the writers are still all but jumping up on chairs and waving their arms and screaming "This is a looming apocalypse unlike any other looming apocalypse! This time things are really bad! Really!" But I have to say, I'm honestly just not feeling it. And that fact makes all the scenes of people panicking in the streets and desperately trying to get the hell out of Dodge seem kind of... odd. I mean, this is Sunnydale, Denial Capital of the World. Six zillion people get eaten every day, and the town motto still might as well be "Vampires? What Vampires?" You'd think it would take a lot to get to these people, but, really, while some of the stuff the First Evil has done has been pretty creepy, I can't think of anything in specific that it's done that would put the general public on edge, at least not any more than anything else they've ever dealt with. OK, maybe there's just a general sense of Evil in the air, but that's no more than business as usual for Sunnydale, so I'm really not buying it.

I will say this for the episode, though: I'm really glad to finally see everyone rebelling against Buffy's "bitch at everyone until they're miserable and then lead them on suicide charges" style of leadership. I'm not sure what her malfunction is, but it's long past time to bring in Dr. McCoy and have her declared unfit for command. Though I'm not exactly sure what kicking her out of her own house is going to accomplish, other than making it extremely likely that she'll go off on her own and do something stupid. Oh, and I'll say it: Bully for Faith! She's displayed a lot more good judgment and emotional restraint than Buffy. And there's a sentence I never would have thought I'd type.

Best Acting award for this episode, by the way, has to go to Nicholas Brendon, who delivers the usual Xander jokes with exactly the right inflection to let us know just how very much he's suffering. Poor Xander. He'd be top of my list of People Who Need Hugs right now, except he got one, and it didn't seem to help a whole lot.

Oh, and I think Spike and Andrew should team up more often. Especially if Andrew gets to be the Bad Cop.

Is It Just Me, Or Do the Quizzes Keep On Getting Weirder?

I found these via Ferro Lad, so, uh, blame him, not me. Yeah, that's the ticket!

My Phase is Olbos



Which Phase of the Greek Tragic Cycle Are You?

Take More Robert & Tim Quizzes
Watch Robert & Tim Cartoons


Uh-oh. Does that mean that the tragedy is still looming in my future. Maybe I should just stay in bed...


I'm an Atheist!



Which Enemy of the Christian Church Are You?

Take More of Robert & Tim's Quizzes
Watch Robert & Tim's Cartoons


Biased, very biased. But accurate, nonetheless.



Narrator - You're not a character at all. You're
the one people come to when they need advice,
when they need loose ends tied up for them,
when they need a peacemaker. You'd probably
make a great therapist or diplomat.

Fairy Tale Lady
brought to you by Quizilla

I don't know why, but somehow, I find that result just too cool.

Another Pointless Update

You'll be pleased to know that I finally got my Dalek fixed. (Hmm, that kind of makes it sound like I'm doing my bit to control the unwanted Dalek population in my neighborhood, doesn't it?) Anyway, as soon as the superglue sets, he should be right back out there crushing the lesser races and pursuing unimaginable power and unlimited rice pudding along with the best of them.

Nice to know I've accomplished something today...

Googlin' Right Along...

Yep, that's right, it's time for still more wacky search requests! What can I say, this ol' blog's been collecting quite a lot of them lately...

pictures of Wil Wheaton butt naked: You know, it kind of scares me how many people land here looking for naked pictures of Wil Wheaton. I found this one particularly amusing, for some reason. Yeah, not just naked, but butt naked!

castrate boobs: OK, I think somebody's very anatomically confused.

smallest boobs ever!! under 11 years old: All right, may I just say, ewww? Most of the weird/perverted search requests I get kind of amuse me, but occasionally they're honestly disturbing. Well, at least I can take comfort from the fact that this person was inept enough at the whole search engine thing that they almost certainly failed to find what they were looking for.

WAVEY LINES AND EYESIGHT: If LINES look WAVEY, I'd suggest having your EYESIGHT checked. But it's just a suggestion.

Dullest blog: Aw, come on, I don't think it's that bad!

free video clips women castrate: OK, it made me wince when somebody came here looking for said video clips involving men, but that one's making me wince and make protective gestures towards my genitals. Yikes!

blakes 7 android: Which one? Did you want info on the Avalon duplicate, Vinni, or Mueller's android? (Oh, yeah, I know that show far too well!)

tiny angel, naked slaves: Oh, man, now I have this bizarre image in my head that looks a lot like Tinkerbell in bondage gear...

xxxxxl boobs: Wow, that's a lot of x's.

maximum perverse: Hey, I think some of these other searches qualify.

"people from Andromeda" blue eyes: People from Andromeda have blue eyes? Gee, you learn something new every day.

commandant grayza nude and Aeryn Sun nude: Yay! Two more to add to my collection of search requests for naked Farscape characters! (Actually, I might have had Grayza before. I can't quite remember. I know I've had lots of hits from people looking for nude pictures of Rebecca Riggs. And typing that phrase out again has probably just guaranteed I'll get more of them, too...) Let's see, I now have Aeryn, Grayza, John, Zhaan, Chiana, Sikozu, and (shudder) Noranti. All right, of the regular characters, that leaves D'Argo, Rygel, Stark, Jool, Crais and Scorpius. (We won't count Pilot, 'cause he doesn't wear clothes, anyway.) I have a feeling making progress may be a bit more difficult from here on out...

cliff notes on "The Veldt" by Ray Bradbury: Oh, for crying out loud, it's a short story! Just read the damned thing! You could probably have finished it in the time you spent googling futilely for cliff notes. Sheesh.

theories of first man to use of contellation: I theorize that, like me (and this poor soul), he failed to employ a spellchecker.

definition of inclined plane: Well, it's a plane that's... wait for it... inclined! Hope that helps.

wedding maximum verbosity: I might consider giving my consent if you wish to wed Maximum Verbosity, but only if there is a substantial dowry involved.

best aeryn john shippers: Sorry, I ain't one of 'em. I always thought they got a bit too much screentime, personally.

manipulation dreams unconsious meaning eating habits: Wow, there are so many interesting ways to parse that...

NUDE EXTRATERRESTRIALS: Yes, even in the future, there will be seedy neighborhoods with flashing neon signs... And they will look much like this.

Android #18 naked big boobs: It is a measure of how much of a Star Trek geek I am that my immediate thought in response to reading that was: "But I am identical in every way to Alice 57!" Please, tell me I'm not the only one who gets that reference.

neil gaiman's cats: I've never met any of Neil Gaiman's cats, but he had a very cool story about one in Smoke and Mirrors, a book which I cannot recommend highly enough.

Free Nude Pictures of Male Tripods: I'm not sure the ones in the books had genders...

My Imp Has the Mojo!

Betty's Battle Imp is

Asum

Backstabbing: 1 Dodgin': 7 Guts: 8 Magic Mojo: 10 Smackdown: 6

Will your battle imp beat Betty's? Enter your name and fight.

Come on, what're ya waitin' for? He'll take ya all on! Grrr!

I'm So Glad I Have the Internet to Tell Me These Things

Apparently, in 31 years, I have worn approximately 8060 pairs of socks, and I have owned approximately 930 pairs of socks.

Well, There Ain't That Much On That's Worth Watching...

Here's an odd little article boggling at the idea that there are actually people out there who, get this, only turn on the TV when the one specific show they want to watch is on. (Link via Snarkcake.) Ye gods, is it really that bizarre of a behavior?

In Which I Rectify My Recent Lack of Posts About Buffy the Vampire Slayer

I'm finally caught up on my Buffy viewing again! Well, OK, maybe "caught up" isn't quite the right phrase to use for someone who still hasn't seen any of the fifth and most of the sixth seasons. But thanks to my sister, who mailed me a tape of the one I missed when I was flying home from California, I've now finally seen the last couple of episodes. Correction: make that the last couple of new episodes. What's with this pattern of showing a new ep and then a couple of reruns, and then a new ep and then a couple of reruns? It's annoying.

Oh, and I'm going to talk about them now, so here's your SPOILER WARNING. Don't say I never gave you anything.

Anyway, I'm really glad I did get to see the one I originally missed (it was the Spike-centric one with all the flashbacks involving his mom), because it was easily one of the best episodes of the season. Completely character-driven, perfectly paced, involving, and possessed of some genuine forward momentum (in terms of the character relationships, if not necessarily of the overarching plot). Great stuff.

The most recent episode, by contrast, was more of a mixed bag... Rather like this season as a whole, actually. Some really great individual scenes/elements: the subtly-acted emotional undercurrents between Buffy and Giles, the scene where Spike and Faith share a cigarette break, a really terrific speech by Xander. But it suffers at least slightly from the pacing problems that have been endemic this season. I can't claim to know exactly what goes on in the writers' minds, but they must be terribly worried about alienating new or sporadic or even just forgetful viewers, because they seem to feel the need to spend large chunks of nearly every episode recapping the Story Thus Far. Often they find fairly clever ways to do it, but it still gets boring very quickly, and it almost inevitably interrupts the flow of the story. It's not actually as bad in this one as in a lot of other episodes this season, but after watching the smooth-flowing Spike ep immediately before it, the problem becomes extremely noticeable.

I'm not completely sure about this new bad guy, Caleb, either. He seems to have just come out of nowhere, and he's enough of an over-the-top stereotype to be a little bit annoying. On the other hand, there's got to be an interesting story behind him (how the hell does he come to be strong enough to knock out a Slayer with one hand, for cryin' out loud?), and that creepy little role-playing scene between him and the First Evil has a certain twisted brilliance to it. Plus, it's nice to see the cast of Firefly getting work.

I would say that it's also good to see that the action's moving forward again and the promised apocalyptic conflict is finally starting to heat up, but I'm afraid that the show's suffering from a major case of "boy who cried wolf" syndrome on this one. It seems like every other episode Buffy's standing up and telling us that now, for real this time, they're going to take action, and things are going to get serious, and the showdown is coming, and yadda yadda yadda. And every time, within an episode at the most, we just end up lapsing right back into inactivity again. Admittedly, if a new villain, a catastrophic ass-kicking, and the maiming of a major character (!) aren't signs that this time things really are seriously starting to happen, I don't know what else could possibly qualify. But by this point, I'm finding it extremely difficult to get my adrenaline levels up any more.

I'm really hoping that there's going to be a major climax to the season (and thus the series) that'll do justice to the crests in this season and make up for the troughs. (She said, keeping her fingers crossed.)

An Interesting Miscellany of Friday Five Questions

1. What was the last TV show you watched? Farscape. Last night's rerun was "Nerve" -- very cool episode -- and I stayed up to zap the commercials while it was taping.

2. What was the last thing you complained about and what was the problem? Um, it was probably the day before yesterday. I was complaining about the fact that, now that we're so shorthanded at work, and since our work load can be kind of unpredictable, the boss can't and won't guarantee we'll get the vacation time we've signed up for very far in advance. Which really, really sucks when you're trying to plan your vacation and you've got other people bugging you to give them a straight yes or no answer about what you're doing. The complaining apparently worked, though, as I got the approval for mine the next day.

3. Who was the last person you complimented and what did you say? Umm... A friend of mine e-mailed me a picture she drew, and I told her it was very nice. Which it was.

4. What was the last thing you threw away? Used kleenex. Eww!

5. What was the last website (besides this one) that you visited? I think it was the NationStates site, where I was visiting my virtual country (which is now actually a virtual planet).

I'm Sailing Away...

Just got official word today that the vacation time I put in for in June has been approved. Which means that this summer I am going on an Alaskan cruise! It wasn't something I'd really expected to do... My mom and her husband had made plans with some of her family to take the cruise before he got sick, and he was kind of insistent that if anything happened to him, she should go ahead and do it anyway. In fact, getting out of the house and doing something active and fun is probably a really good thing for her, and I think she's feeling very positive about the idea. Only, well, now she's got an extra cruise ticket, so I've sort of inherited it. I'm mostly motivated by a desire to keep Mom company, to be honest (not that I guess she'll really need it, with the various other relatives who'll be along), but it should be an interesting experience. I've never been on a cruise before. Hmm, I wonder what books I should pack?

And Yet Another One...

I got this one from Occasional Fish, who got it from Thudfactor, whose comment was, "Quiz results are a good replacement for content, right?" Yeah, sounds good to me!


Fixedsys - You are the person people go to when
they are having trouble with their computer.
Geeky but reliable.

What Font Are You? (Standard Fonts)
brought to you by Quizilla

Well, anybody who comes to me for computer help is probably gonna be badly disappointed. "Geeky but reliable," however, is really quite descriptive.

Now, These Are My Kind Of Stupid Quizzes


You are Season 26. You are Dark and Manipulative.
People tend to paint you as sicker than you
really are - you're far more subtle than people
seem to think. Despite that, you're a good
laugh and fun to be around.

Which Doctor Who Season Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Hmm. I think I'll regard that as a compliment. Even if I never could make heads or tails of "Ghost Light."


You are Deep Space Nine. You goth, you.

What Star Trek are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Whoo-hoo! I'm the intelligent, subtle, sophisticated Trek! You know it, baby!

An Utterly Shameless Plug

OK, so, a friend of mine mentioned that a friend of his had this internet animation thingy that he was trying to drum up some PR for, and asked me if I'd give it a plug. It's called Life on the Wedge. I just went and took a look at it, and, y'know, it's kind of cute. My friend describes it as "a south park-esque 'Cathy meets Dilbert meets Sex and the City'." Personally, I think it's got something of a stand-up comedy sensibility. Go check it out for yourself and see what you think!

A Note to Myself

This is just by way of being a reminder to myself because I keep forgetting to do it, but hopefully if I actually write this down and post it in public, I'll be forced to remember: I need to bring some glue into work to stick the plunger back on my Dalek. (Heh. Now there's a sentence I bet you don't hear every day!) It's a toy wind-up Dalek, see. It sits on my desk and guards my important papers and emergency food stash. But its arm fell off a while back, and the other Daleks back on Skaro are probably heading out here to exterminate it for being defective even as we speak, poor thing. And we certainly can't have that. Plus, I'm afraid the relevant appendage is going to roll off my desktop and get lost, and, really, what could be more pitiful than a plungerless Dalek?

Ah, So That's What It Was

OK, I've finally identified that odd feeling I was having earlier. It wasn't over-caffeination, it was simply the result of substituting caffeine for an adequate amount of sleep. And it's finally worn off. Definitely won't be staying up for the Farscape rerun tonight...

Zzzzz...

Caffeine Feind

I'm in an odd mood today. Kind of edgy for no particularly obvious reason. I'd say that what I actually feel is overcaffeinated, but that can't be it. So far today, I've only had my usual three cups of morning coffee, two mugs of tea, and half a bottle of Pepsi. That shouldn't be remotely enough to have an impact on me.

Oh, gawd. I really am a hopeless caffeine junkie, aren't I?

Bookmobile!

A friend of mine sent me an e-mail consisting solely of this URL and the subject line "Is this your car?" Alas, it is not, but I'll definitely keep the idea in mind for when I run out of bookshelf space in the house...