ACORNholed
Mar. 12th, 2010 06:19 am![[personal profile]](http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
supergeeThe fake pimp and real burglar who claimed to have tricked ACORN was lying even more than we thought.
Thanx to Mercury Rising.
Thanx to Mercury Rising.
supergeeProgress of a sort
Mar. 12th, 2010 06:09 amsupergeeMississippi appears to have stopped canceling proms because of the threat of different-race couples. Now they just do it because of the threat of same-sex couples. My sister-in-law once removed is attempting to reason with them
In Memoriam, Simon Kugler, 1924-2010
Mar. 11th, 2010 03:58 pmredbirdMy mother's husband, Simon Kugler, died two days ago, after a long and difficult illness. He died quietly at home in bed, as they both wanted. I thought, when I was booking tickets last week, that I was flying over for the funeral, but having lived at least a year longer than the doctors expected, he then lived another three or four days longer than we thought he would after they took him off the IV hydration. But after a few days of "it will be today," Tuesday morning, when the palliative care nurse came in, she noticed signs that it would be soon. Mom sat near him, because she wanted to, and I sat with her, because the reason I was in London was to take care of her. He died gently enough that it took us a couple of minutes to be sure.
In Orthodox Jewish tradition, he was buried yesterday afternoon; I changed my ticket home so I could stay for the funeral, and am very glad I was there to support Mom.
After the doctor came to certify the death, Mom told me she was glad the doctor hadn't written something euphemistic like "heart failure" on the death certificate. Simon had frontal-temporal lobe dementia, which was hard for him, and for my mother, and for his carer, Mel (who worked for them full time for the last five years). But they had many good years together, and Mom told me a few days ago that before she and Simon met and fell in love, she had no idea how much one person could love another, or be loved.
In Orthodox Jewish tradition, he was buried yesterday afternoon; I changed my ticket home so I could stay for the funeral, and am very glad I was there to support Mom.
After the doctor came to certify the death, Mom told me she was glad the doctor hadn't written something euphemistic like "heart failure" on the death certificate. Simon had frontal-temporal lobe dementia, which was hard for him, and for my mother, and for his carer, Mel (who worked for them full time for the last five years). But they had many good years together, and Mom told me a few days ago that before she and Simon met and fell in love, she had no idea how much one person could love another, or be loved.
No help at all
Mar. 11th, 2010 01:51 pmsupergeeAs Andrew (Dice) Wittgenstein put it, whereof one cannot speak, STFU. White guys who admittedly don't know what's going on in Third World writing should not hasten to offer us the benefit of their ignorance.
Thanx to![[livejournal.com profile]](http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
james_nicoll
Thanx to
james_nicollPotlatch
Mar. 10th, 2010 11:53 pmwhumpLet me praise Marimekko. cynthia1960, kate_yule, and I were out exploring around Pike Place Market Saturday morning, and I saw an awesome shirt in the window of a boutique and bought two.
There was a small donut machine in Pike Place Market.
My phone meeped at me about the International Space Station making a bright, visible pass Saturday evening (yes, there is an app for that) so holyoutlaw and I arranged for Marci to allow people to come through the top floor's consuite and onto the deck to watch the pass.
We flew Virgin America, which we both liked. And I was able to try out onboard WiFi (though I had to pay for it, which was a minor annoyance.)
San Jose, April 4-7
Mar. 10th, 2010 10:24 pmdavidlevineWe are coming to San Jose for the
ECR@25
square dance fly-in, April 2-4, and have decided to stay on for a
few days afterwards, returning on the 7th. Anyone in the Bay Area
want to hang out April 4-7? We're also interested in crash space,
and information about events happening during those days.
Leave a comment below or email me at dlevine at spiritone dot com.
let's try it this way:
Mar. 10th, 2010 11:41 pm![[staff profile]](http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user_staff.png){kind=small}
deniseWho's got stuff for next week's update?
(See my cunning plan? This way I can have a place to note down all those "hey, mention this in the update --")
(See my cunning plan? This way I can have a place to note down all those "hey, mention this in the update --")
I want this with an unholy desire...
Mar. 10th, 2010 02:11 pmcynthia1960I'm not a gung-ho gamer by any stretch of the imagination, but I need this: an RPG based on Charlie Stross's Laundry books.
I have new glasses!
Mar. 10th, 2010 04:58 pmflick... and I can already feel my headache moving into new and exciting places in my head. Still, it should now pass in a day or so. I think I like them.
Walking up to collect them, I saw the Canada Water cob going after a goose, who tried various double-back techniques but eventually had to give up and fly out of the water, at which the swan gave a satisfied bum-wiggle and preened himself. There are three coot nests on the canal, at least one of which had at least one little ball of fluff trying to get out of the wind under mother.
Monday's riding was on Fran, who was being a silly mare: there was a gust of wind, and then a fox, and then some noisy kids, and then a dog, all in roughly the same place, and each one just added to the fact that the others had been there until we were spinning around on the spot debating which way we were going to go.... Apparently, all the horses were a bit spooky, though, so that by the end of the evening they were just using one end of the school. I suspect that the foxes are out having sex and making worrying smells, or something.
Today's was on Danny, which was slightly nervous-making as a concept but actually he was a sweetie, and was going really well after he'd warmed up. Worked mostly on things like sepentines, and a bit of sitting trot. Had a good lesson, Toni says my leg position is getting good, which is always nice to hear ('good' being an improvement over 'better', iyswim).
Tired. Not sure I approve of this working business: yesterday was a long day, and I may have been doing a couple of hours this afternoon, too. Oops.
Walking up to collect them, I saw the Canada Water cob going after a goose, who tried various double-back techniques but eventually had to give up and fly out of the water, at which the swan gave a satisfied bum-wiggle and preened himself. There are three coot nests on the canal, at least one of which had at least one little ball of fluff trying to get out of the wind under mother.
Monday's riding was on Fran, who was being a silly mare: there was a gust of wind, and then a fox, and then some noisy kids, and then a dog, all in roughly the same place, and each one just added to the fact that the others had been there until we were spinning around on the spot debating which way we were going to go.... Apparently, all the horses were a bit spooky, though, so that by the end of the evening they were just using one end of the school. I suspect that the foxes are out having sex and making worrying smells, or something.
Today's was on Danny, which was slightly nervous-making as a concept but actually he was a sweetie, and was going really well after he'd warmed up. Worked mostly on things like sepentines, and a bit of sitting trot. Had a good lesson, Toni says my leg position is getting good, which is always nice to hear ('good' being an improvement over 'better', iyswim).
Tired. Not sure I approve of this working business: yesterday was a long day, and I may have been doing a couple of hours this afternoon, too. Oops.
{Official Announcements} {Improvements} {Extra} Various & Sundry
Mar. 10th, 2010 12:04 pmnewswatch posting in ![[community profile]](http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
the_dw_heraldEditor's Note: sorry for the slight delay. I couldn't stay connected to the Internet long enough to get this posted.
Official Announcements
Improvements [not live yet]
- "Move /editpics to /editicons." (Source)
- Latest Things: "add tracking for popular tags, this automatically shows the 100 most popular tags on the site on the Latest page and lets you view the latest entries posted with that tag. Experimental." (Source)
- Invite Codes page: "show date used." (Source)
- Suggest an Improvement page: "allow suggestion contributors to opt out of getting emailed about comments." (Source)
- "Allow e-mailed posts to have a custom date." (Source)
- Make navigation drop-down menus work on Post Entry/Edit Entry success pages. (Source)
- "Fix multiple icon uploader to work with Internet Explorer." (Source)
- New layout, Nouveau Oleanders, with five themes. (Source)
Extra
new LJ client
Mar. 10th, 2010 08:34 amcatness posting in ![[site community profile]](http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/comm_staff.png){kind=small}
dw_niftyHi all,
I'm writing a new open-source LJ client for Linux (C++ / Qt4) with a focus on crossposting. The current version can be downloaded at http://code.google.com/p/qtxpost. Feedback is greatly appreciated!
[edit] if anyone fromdw_dev sees it - I just had automatically x-posted there an entry which was supposed to go to my own journal, but deleted it right away - sorry... :( Argh... one should be really careful when dealing with crossposting... :)
I'm writing a new open-source LJ client for Linux (C++ / Qt4) with a focus on crossposting. The current version can be downloaded at http://code.google.com/p/qtxpost. Feedback is greatly appreciated!
[edit] if anyone from
dw_dev sees it - I just had automatically x-posted there an entry which was supposed to go to my own journal, but deleted it right away - sorry... :( Argh... one should be really careful when dealing with crossposting... :) Remote access?
Mar. 10th, 2010 12:30 pmaquaeri posting in wisconEver since I first heard about WisCon, I've felt reasonably confident that's the sf/fandom con I'd enjoy attending more than any other.
BUT. I live in Australia. It would cost me several thousand dollars just for the airfare. Besides, I jet-lag shockingly, so I'd need to arrive in the right timezone up to a week in advance to be sure of fully enjoying the con, and then need time to recover once I got home (I can currently afford that time, which is why I can't afford the prices. Sigh). And the US government now finger-prints foreign visitors on arrival, and I am not willing to go through that. (I'm also reminded my passport has expired, which is more money, sigh.)
I notice an increasing number of cons (admittedly geeky things like Linuxconf) now do things like live-streaming of talks. I know people likebadgerbag have been amazing about blogging, nearly live-blogging sessions. Has there been any formal/official consideration of increasing access to Wiscon for the geographically challenged (and anyone else who might have practical issues with attending)? Or supporting the efforts of attendees who do blog/video parts of the con to share?
BUT. I live in Australia. It would cost me several thousand dollars just for the airfare. Besides, I jet-lag shockingly, so I'd need to arrive in the right timezone up to a week in advance to be sure of fully enjoying the con, and then need time to recover once I got home (I can currently afford that time, which is why I can't afford the prices. Sigh). And the US government now finger-prints foreign visitors on arrival, and I am not willing to go through that. (I'm also reminded my passport has expired, which is more money, sigh.)
I notice an increasing number of cons (admittedly geeky things like Linuxconf) now do things like live-streaming of talks. I know people like
badgerbag have been amazing about blogging, nearly live-blogging sessions. Has there been any formal/official consideration of increasing access to Wiscon for the geographically challenged (and anyone else who might have practical issues with attending)? Or supporting the efforts of attendees who do blog/video parts of the con to share?Regretsy
Mar. 9th, 2010 06:54 pmsupergeeNaked, apparently vomiting child probably not useful in selling dress.
ETA: Alas, they have taken down the picture of the naked, vomiting child, perhaps because it might appeal to someone's prurient interest. (You never know what will.) At least, the Barbie-Tarzan Pieta is still there.
ETA: Alas, they have taken down the picture of the naked, vomiting child, perhaps because it might appeal to someone's prurient interest. (You never know what will.) At least, the Barbie-Tarzan Pieta is still there.