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| While the squash worked out very nicely indeed but I managed to burn one of my fingers on the roasting dish as I was getting them out so now I'm sulking in front of the tv with some frozen peas and neurofen. | ||||||
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July 12th, 2009
July 12th, 2009
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| Deception Pass is a narrow channel at the north end of Whidbey Island, near Seattle. Early on a summer evening the light is fantastic, a platinum sheen on the water, bright bright in the westering sun. The lines of the currents weave towards the cleft in the cliffs, drawing lines on the mirror-smooth water. Fishing boats pass by, drawing their own lines. Zoom in on the reflections, on the white gold ripples...  Whidbey Island, Washington June 2009 | ||||||||||||
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busyJuly 12th, 2009
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| God, Yorkshire is pretty. The green and gold fields, the trees on thelazily sloping hills, poppies and sheep in the pastures. Maybe I should take uplong distance walking; I can hardly think of a nicer place to do it. Did you catch that I have a screening interview for a position as a test manager with Royal Mail on Monday? I'm really wanting to leave my job. I'm sad about being turned down by Tripadelic. I've now interviewed twice, three years apart, for the same position, and was turned down both times. I guess I really will just never work there again. Glad other UK employers don't feel so negatively about me. One of the things I did really like about Scarborough was how much walking we got in while we were there. In fact, we walked so much I felt like I had hardly any down time; I certainly never touched any ofmy books! But I managed to get in a boat ride and 3 hours poking around a medieval castle and cards and singing and long conversations. So in my mind it was a big success. I also got to try a Knickerbocker Glory, which is a parfait made entirely with canned fruit; crushed pineapple, peaches, pear (!), mandarin oranges, and maraschino cherries. J & I split it and it really was a meal in itself. And with its amazing all yellow and orange color scheme, the Habour Inn proved itself a resaurant with no equal. Part 50s era coffee shop, part Farrell's ice cream parlor ... and not a good place for the visually sensitive. Next stop York. I expect on my way back I'll finish my Inspector Montalbano mystery and move on to the Alexander McCall Smith mystery I picked up at a charity shop during the gap while we were waiting for our train. As a final tought, anyone want to come over for a barbeque next Sunday afternoon? | ||||||
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July 12th, 2009
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| Hi Guys, My lovely friend Bruce (who some of you may have met) and his co-pilot Ulfi are doing the London to Cameroon rally in a one litre car (yes, only one!) They need to raise at least £1000 for three really worthwhile charities; Ape Action Africa, Send a Cow and The Rainforest Trust UK. Donating is soooo easy and you can chose which charity you donate to on this page right here (should you have had an unfortunate monkey/cow childhood trauma and wish to be selective) http://africarally.sprooce.co.ukhttp://tinyurl.com/m5ypbh Even if you just want to donate £5 then that would be awesome as every little would really help. And please don't tell them they're going to die as they've heard this a fair bit already. Anyone interested in going a step ahead and organising an event at work/school/uni to get a bit more money together for one of these charities please contact me here. Thank you so much in advance xxx | ||||||
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July 12th, 2009
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July 12th, 2009
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| TfL just phoned me, to tell me that they were sending me an email. WtF? (Is Goshia (sp?) a common Polish name?) | ||||||||
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July 12th, 2009
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| I am trying to figure out how to roast butternut squash for lunch but the Internet is being a little difficult about giving me a reasonable recipie, the suggested temperatures and times are all over the place! As such I think I'll have to make it up as I go along, I see no way that I can do anything worse than setting the oven on fire. Again. I may even throw some ingredients in the bread machine later if I'm going to be this charmingly domestic, or more likely I'll snap and go on a murderous rampage. | ||||||
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July 11th, 2009
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| Have a service that takes an audio file, then recommends a relevant web page. Possibly via Mechanical Turk. Apply it as follows: have your iPhone listen to your current conversation, then send the audio to the service, display the relevant web page. Repeat every minute or so. (Of course you can show this on glasses but it would probably be fun even with a standard iPhone.) Now for more fun, is there a way to do this without revealing the content of the conversation? (Secure multiparty computation? Compiling a Mechanical Turk task into a boolean circuit is certainly a research level problem.) | ||||||
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July 12th, 2009
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| Richard Youngs might not be what you call a good singer. Hell, he might not even be what I call a good singer. However, his frail falsetto on Fullness Of Light In Your Soul turns this restrained piece of nylon-stringed guitar music into something exceptional. Youngs' prolific output runs from folk to free improv, and many of his CD-Rs have been released in such minuscule amounts that some might suspect he was taking the piss. Either that, or embracing the necessity of file-sharing to actually get his music heard. Fullness of Light comes not from one of these releases, but from his more widely available album Sapphie, first released in 1998. Like Jandek, in whose backing band he briefly played, you might suspect that there's a fearful sadness at work here. Unlike Jandek, Youngs actually manages to convey this through his music without descending into an abyss of self-indulgence. It is personal music, perhaps too personal, but I for one am glad that Youngs decided to share it. Richard Youngs - Fullness Of Light In Your Soul | ||||||
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July 11th, 2009
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| I'd say we pretty much failed at most of the things we'd planned to do today. Successes can be seen here (literally, it's a picture account). We made it on the boat for a harbor tour, but didn't make it to the Sealife center because last entry was at 3:30. Instead, we went to a little geology museum called the Rotunda,which was cute. Then we just walked around town and then along the seaside. Around 7:30 we went to a bar that does karaoke and sang for a while (but mostly listened as it was very busy). Around 8:30 we headed back to the flat, had dinner, and played canasta. I'd say it was a good day. | ||||||
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July 11th, 2009
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| It seems appropriate that I mention these now, it seems. Ana Sharman (edit and Jenifer Moore, my apologies) started these workshops and recently I have been running them. They are not only for newcomers, but for anyone attending BiCon - they are usually a mixture of "old timers" and "first timers" and many people seem to come in their second year to discuss issues they may have faced in the first year. The workshop blurb is "Ever been dissatisfied with the words "bi" and "bisexual" because they don't quite fit for you? Or ever looked round BiCon and felt unfashionable / "too normal" / not quite at home? Ever wondered where you fit in as the non-bi partner of a bi person, or as someone questioning their sexuality or "only a little bit bi"? Or, on the other hand, ever thought how much you like it here - even if you're not bi? These and other interesting questions will be explored in this session, which will run several times during the weekend. You're welcome whether bi or not, whether new to BiCon or not. It's especially recommended if you're in the process of settling in and "finding your BiCon feet". The format will include discussion in small groups, and some writing. Shy people should find it not too scary. Doors will be closed after a few minutes' intro." I love running these workshops, they are in turn funny, profound, moving and inspiring. It's amazing how many people believe "everyone else is... but I am I don't know the timetable yet, but these workshops are almost always the first and last to be run, as that is when they work best, so do please come along to them if you get the chance | ||||||
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July 11th, 2009
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| Not normally one for alcohol (and despite a glass of rosé over lunch Friday - a prime burger and salad as Soho burned around me) - 'Departed' at Elixir - when I eventually found it on Eversholt St. down from Mornington Crescent, was excellent. I started with an award winning bottle of Wiltshire summer lightning and as Trans-X 'living on video' mutated into Duran-Duran's 'Wild Boys' I got an olfactory overload of fresh mint - crisper than Pimms and not as subtle as Oxford's Grand Cafe elderflower pressè - they were making cocktails at the bar. I think this one had white rum and limes as well as half an apothacary's garden of mint, leaving one a touch fuzzy-headed as I fell to it's temptation, as the creatures of the night gyrated wistfully like smoke from an abandoned wild-camp fire whilst The Crüxshadows 'winter born' eminated in it's nasal tones around us... Up reasonably handy for breakfast on the Saturday, then a tortuous coach trek across London to Hampton Court and a day at the RHS Show. Pretty good, although the only plants I got were a yellow/orange fruiting raspberry and a raspberry with evergreen leaves. Quite a few ideas for summer-houses / garden rooms - as well as shepherd's huts as featured a few months ago in some of the gardening magazines. Some interesting show gardens - possibly more subtle than some of the Chelsea exhibits. Quite crowded all day, but at least any rain was slight drizzle. Apparently I missed Arch-Bishop Desmond Tutu having a rose named after him. A simple, but interesting display was the Velvet sponsored one - several thousand seedling oaks laid out as a nod to sustainability. Why do the so-called eco-friendly garden structures look like something out of The Teletubbies? Henry VIII was to be seen around the showground with a small but regal entourage. six gardens were planted in themes of each of his wives. | ||||||||||||
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cheerfulJuly 11th, 2009
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July 11th, 2009
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July 11th, 2009
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| 45) Henry David Thoreau, Walden; Or, Life in the Woods (New York: Dover, 1995, ISBN 9780486284958). An odd collection of ramblings and rants about Walden's two-year self-sufficiency experiment near Concord, Massachusetts. Apparently it's a classic; I'm not quite sure why. The best thing about it is the famous line "Beware of any enterprise that requires new clothes", but even that has more impact out of context, I think. | ||||||||||
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July 11th, 2009
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| ( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. ) | ||||||||
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July 11th, 2009
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| Gah. Arrival at Dad's was approximately 6 hours after my plane landed, and around 5 hours after the second plane landed. The major issue? Nearly 2 hrs with lovely Thrifty Rent a Car. Orlando Airport McDonald's fries at 11pm? Not recommended... Excerpted from an email I sent at nigh 4 this morning, After an initial barking ended by Dad's waking up and calling him over, Dozer accepted many scritches, and played the "lean into the human and see if I can push her over" game, and kept looking at me as though I was supposed to actually know something, and wouldn't cease following me around the house. Waited for me to exit the bathroom. Sniffed at my underwear [and between my legs] when I eventually changed. Endearing, I guess. I kept up a running conversation with a smile in my voice, despite the many "I have no idea what you want me to do... here, I'll refill your water, and, oh, look, there's the dry food - I'll add to the bowl"In Thrifty's defense, we were in a car by a little after midnight - we chose the coastal route up forto make better use of the convertible* and to try from some pictures at Titusville. ( titusville pic! taken on starry night setting! ) Mosquitos were impressive. But the view particularly impressive. And I stayed up most of an hour puttering and talking at Dozer and attempting to get him to be on one side of the house with us on the other . . . . Dozer seems to have no grudge against me for putting him on the other side of the door; early greeting this morning when I went into where Dad was on his computer was . .. to route his wander between and through my legs in I suppose a "How stable are you?" game. Happily, in such matters I'm pretty stable. Only did it once, unlike last night where it was several times. Hopefully he senses not to do this with Dad. Long day ahead. Wish luck. There's something about the weather forecast that has heretofor been inspiring :headdesk: [Pictures copied from camera; would love to figure out how to further zoom in iphoto and how not to edit the original... unfortunately the net's not working in the part of the house where Dad is; hence the delay. It's now most of 10; not fully sure where the schedule's going.. ] *En route out of the airport we could so hear the swamp noises. And smell the swamp. Marvelous. | ||||||
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July 11th, 2009
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| Bisexual Butterfly at London Pride 2009 pictures are up on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2 http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2 http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=3 http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=3 http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=3 | ||||
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July 11th, 2009
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![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} kim_huett posted the results of a 1940s survey about (among other things) the ancestry of fans. I think it would be interesting to repeat it, but I'm slightly wary of plunging All Fandom Into War if I forget to include $classification. ( pre-poll musings ) | ||||||||
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July 11th, 2009
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| BiCon 2009 is six weeks away, on Thursday 20 - Sunday 23 August, in Worcester. The deadline for booking is three weeks away, on Saturday 1 August. I will of course be there; I haven't missed one since my first in 1991, and it changed my life then, and again and again since, for the better. Some of you probably wonder what all the fuss is about! The important thing to bear in mind is that BiCon isn't really about bisexuality. BiCon exists not because 200 people are bursting to talk about bisexuality every year - I'm largely not - but because it works as an event. Bisexuality is just the tiny fragment of stuff about which the pearl of BiCon is built. Though people do talk about bisexuality every year at BiCon, it is sustained year on year not by those discussions but by the atmosphere that BiCon creates: one in which assumptions about sexuality are given a good shake, and one in which a lasting and (for its many flaws) lovely community welcomes new people and reunites old friends. And don't think you'll be the only cynical old bastard in a building full of hippies either - I assure you that BiCon is quite diverse on the hippy/cynical old bastard scale too. Read the links from this post to the BiCon community and have a look at what people say immediately after the event is over. Don't wait until *this* year's is over and you're reading what a great time everyone else had! | ||||||
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