FxChiP

So we did some Boxing Bay shopping, looking for deals. We stopped in at the Best Buy on Fairway. Parking there is always a bear and today we should just parked in Fairview and walked over. Unfortunately thos only became clear once it was impossible to change our minds.

Part of getting into the lot involves driving down a somewhat narrow road. To one side there is a hill, which had been turned into a sea of mud by people using it as parking. As we were driving, someone in a truck crested the top of the hill, clearly convinced a truck can drive anywhere, hit the mud and then slid sideways towards the two lanes of traffic in the lane. He hit the bottom and the edge of the paved lane, teetered for a bit and then settled on all four tires before proceeding on his way.

Then the second truck appeared. Rinse, lather and repeat, again narrowly missing a collision with traffic because the hard edge of the lane stopped the wheels abruptly.

This was pretty nerve-wracking from my side of the road so I can't imagine what it was for the people on the other side, the people who were in cars inadvertently serving as shields for my side.

Once we were in we had no trouble finding parking around the side, in a legal, marked spot.

I made a point of mentioning the problem and was directed to someone I assume was in authority. He told me that they did not have the man-power to deal with the problem. As far as I know, nothing was done. This was about 3 PM.

A year after Prime Minister Stephen Harper prorogued Parliament to avoid a no-confidence vote, in his year-end media interviews he isn't ruling out doing it again.

I'd never seen this. I've still not seen most of it. I was very surprised when

Animal lover warning

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If I used garbled linguistics to argue that Old Timey People didn't have the full range of sophisticated colour vision as modern people, how long do you think it would take before this theory turned up in an SF novel?

My thinking is twofold: Classical European languages probably didn't have exactly the same number of words for colours as modern English and they could either have more or fewer. I'll ignore any that had more. Also, if I aim this at monolingual English-speakers they won't be able to check (Bear in mind I am monolingual and I certainly won't be checking).

I might cherry-pick some examples from languages that happen not to have a lot of basic words for colours and which happen to be spoken by people in extremely underdeveloped regions. For extra hilarity, I'll make some sweeping assertations about Japanese and Chinese languages that are clearly false that nobody will check.


Would it be going too far to slip in a reference to Calvin's dad?

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Contest! With no prize except the prospect of making me miserable.

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thesaucernews discusses Jetse DeVries' Should (written) Science Fiction Die.

I may come back to this later.

I think that DeVries is using a definition of SF in his title where SF = American SF, which strikes me as very funny in this context. I think this is because I need more sleep.

It was chilly today and raining so I was a little worried about the rain freezing. I did encounter one patch of ice but it was in a very specific place: on a set of concrete steps into a building. The material looked about the same as the sidewalk (which was ice-free) and it's not shaded. As far as I can tell it was just like the nearby ice-free sidewalk. Any guesses as to why that patch and just that patch of concrete was chilled enough to have ice on it?

Lots of sad and serious things in the news today, but I don't really know how to talk about all of that this point. All I can say about the Detroit incident is that I'm going to focus on the positive and be glad that the bomb didn't go off, it's a Christmas miracle, etc.

I was really tense all day, but Christmas went reasonably well. ( Sam says hi )

So: what was your favorite present, and/or what did you do today?


Oh, P.S. I put up A Very Shelfy Christmas, Part 1 yesterday.

Previously on The Secret Life of Dolls: A lot of stuff happened.

So: Christmas in Shelfia, with a bit of catch-up from the Compocalypse. ( We Two Kings of Númenor Are )


(To be continued. Part two: Serafina. Part three: Anna.)

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Poll #1503090
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 221

Which is your favourite Galilean moon?

Pleasantly busy day, it looks like. Howling winds outside, actually, but sunnyish, so that's fine.

Have to wrap presents later. I hate wrapping presents. I mean, I do an okay job of it in the end, and I like presents to be wrapped, but it usually involves me wrestling with a large, fragile sheet of shiny paper for about fifteen minutes.

Still have to take certain pictures. TLB went missing earlier this morning, but was eventually located. I would rather not discuss how the tableshelf ended up covered in maple syrup.

Lizzie's McAfee trial ran out, so I was like, the hell with this, I'm putting AVG on. So now I'm having to do all the scans and setups and whatever, but I hear it's better anyway.

(I am really glad it has a rootkit scan, because isn't that what Sony put on its CDs for a while there?)

For those of you keeping track on the Aromaleigh front, Wish is really pretty with Damask. It's a similar look to Chloe/Amelie, but more pink and less peach.

My feet are killing me, which suggests to me that I need new/better shoes, or some kind of comfort-inducing insert (although those "I'm Gellin'!" commercials make me want to slap someone). I actually want to go buy me some Chucks with my next round of book money, although I doubt those will have any kind of support. Hm. I just want some of those because I rarely get more formal than sneakers, but Chucks are an ever-so-slightly more sophisticated aesthetic than scuffed tennis shoes, you know? And you can customize them! I kind of want to make a purple plaid. I do not see any way to order a foot massage, however.

Why

Spoilers for more than one episode

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This article is an interesting article but merely outlawing some drugs and limiting access to abortion is a pretty half-hearted way of limiting the undeserving lower order's access to pleasure. Surely there must be some kind of technological fix possible, where the portion of the brain that creates pleasurable responses to stimuli like drugs or sex is switched off permanently, except when the person in question has access to some expensive "key" to temporarily turn it back on. Submitting to this could be made a mandatory cost of accepting certain social programs (Or for that matter, employment below a certain rank. Orgasm is an unnecessary distraction for people below, oh, Senior Vice President).

Yes, there could be birth rate implications but people in developed nations tend not to have children at a replacement rate anyway. I have some ideas for handling this (baby-drafts don't seem to work but perhaps eusociality can be adapted).

Short form: the (in the copies I have received, unsigned) communique announced that on 1 July 2010 new, mandatory contracts will go into effect, which would essentially transform Keenspot into a traditional publisher and away from the nature it has had in the past (although we should note that Keenspot has had numerous corporate personae over the years). Creators that signed the contract would be required to be hosted by Keenspot, use their updating program, turn over control of ad slots, and accept a 50/50 revenue split on the advertising.

A few things of interest (or not):

The Christmas village on the back of our piano


A less artistic overhead shot

A darkened street

My festive sleeve, which I managed not to set on fire or trail through the dip (you can also see my moonstone ring)

@alliancesjr: @cleolinda This makes me think of pre-1960 attitudes towards women and body parts. One of these days you're going to show us an *gasp* ANKLE

@cleolinda: @alliancesjr http://twitpic.com/uvgzt  

@queenanthai: @cleolinda You HOOR.

Lucy at the party

What I got at the swap:




The little china cup is actually a strainer that goes in the large cup; that's a wooden spoon sitting in it. The three teas are jasmine, green, and black, and there are little compartments in the box for the teas and the metal strainer. All of this is pleasing to me, particularly since I've been drinking my tea out of a coffee mug.

And for those who asked about "movie that will be made of certain book I was buying," I gave Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (movie version to star Natalie Portman), plus a guide to zombie survival.

But I think that if you are making a left-hand turn in an SUV, you should stop applying mascara until the turn is completed.

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Very tired--like, "sleepy" tired, not "verge of a nervous breakdown" tired. Maybe it's just because there's been a lot of holiday-related running-around lately, which is fun. And I've been eating out more, which means I'm drinking soda, which means I'm getting more caffeine than I should, which means I'm not sleeping very well at night. All I know is, a friend called yesterday and thought something was seriously wrong, because I sounded completely out of it. I woke up a bit late and didn't take my meds on time this morning, so now I have a headache, etc., which I'm hoping will go away by the time I go out to the Christmas swap party tonight. Speaking of which, I am still trying to find my boots (just short black boots to wear under my jeans, nothing huge), because I would really like to wear those. Also, I have very nearly talked myself into wearing a dark blue top with crocheted sleeves that are a bit... princessy. Eh, I will claim they are "festive."

First, a few Avatar links, since that's what the last entry was about. And thanks for such a civil and thoughtful discussion over on the Avatar entry. It took 360 comments for someone hostile to finally show up and inform me that I am a prejudiced, touchy-feely liberal. After the all-time high of cleoloindaisgay, this was a fairly disappointing flame.

James Cameron Reveals His Quest to Build More Perfect CGI Boobs. Unfortunately, I read this before I saw the movie, so I spent the whole thing staring at Neytiri's goods, curious to see if such a paradox as a CGI nip slip could possibly occur. 

EW on Avatar: Does story matter? "Titanic is Shakespeare compared to Avatar." ICE BURRRRRRN.

James Cameron Planning 'Avatar' Trilogy, Director Tells MTV News. Yeah, I told you.

‘Avatar’ could get nine Oscar nominations. I don't know if I'm just more mature mellow as a person now than I was circa Titanic, but I think I would manage not to claw my eyes out if it won something huge. I don't know--maybe my Zoe Saldana love is helping me hold on.

The "Moff's Law" link going around: RT @ebertchicago To people who say "Just enjoy! Don't analyze!" This speaks eloquently for me: http://j.mp/4XAkBR.

Meanwhile (alert alert alert): today's 50% off sale at Aromaleigh is the Eye Lustres section ( Quick reviews of the ones I like )

Speaking of color: Colorstrology. Something about birthdays and colors and Pantone sponsorship, I don't know, but it's interesting. December's color is Pagoda Blue, and the 14th turned out to be Green-Blue Slate: "Complex, quick-witted, expressive." "You are expressive and funny and people like it when you entertain them" in particular made me laugh. DANCE, HUMOR MONKEY!


Speaking of which, I am so behind on Secret Life. Oh God. The Christmas/catchup installment looks like it's going to be in three parts now. Dammit.