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Domestic Terrorism [31 May 2009|12:22pm] George Tiller shot to death at Wichita church George Tiller, the Wichita doctor who became a national lightning rod in the debate over abortion, was shot to death this morning as he walked into church services. Tiller, 67, was shot just after 10 a.m. at Reformation Lutheran Church at 7601 E. 13th, where he was a member of the congregation. Witnesses and a police source confirmed Tiller was the victim. No information has been released about whether a suspect is in custody. post comment

More from the local news [07 May 2009|07:51pm] Someone needs to learn the difference between a "bomb" and a "stupid practical joke." The two terms are not synonymous. I was mildly alarmed at the headline "'MacGyver-type' bomb found under car in Cedar Rapids," but I figured I would have heard about it already if a really serious incident had happened that close to home. Sure enough, the first paragraph of the story assured me that no one was injured although the "bomb" had detonated by the time the police arrived. Then I reached the third paragraph. Lt. Kelly Fitzpatrick said a 20-ounce Pepsi bottle had been used to make an explosive device. No damage was done to the undercarriage of the car, he said. Investigations are continuing. For once, I'm enjoying the comments on the site about the "underfunded terrorists." A current theory is that "Its a massive conspiracy between Dr. Pepper and Pepsi to make you THINK Coca Cola is responsible." post comment

Leave the rooster! That's human interest! [06 May 2009|09:10am] From now on, whenever I watch His Girl Friday, I will imagine Cary was referring to this timeless story, exquisite in it's "WTF? That made the paper?" perfection. The fact that Cary's character was in a jail house when he said the line only makes it better. ( Cock-a-doodle-whoa ) Besides, this should set aside any lingering impression that all people in rural Iowa are doing is worrying about gay marriage. They've got priorities, folks. I am still fighting my way out from under a busy workload that includes lots of reading, writing and editing, but I did manage to make myself a Dreamwidth account. I wll try to track people down soon and begin cross-posting. I have a seasonal_spuffy story due soon, so I have to start writing something besides boring corporate stuff. post comment

Collection of WTFs? [26 Apr 2009|07:50pm] [ mood | waiting to run down to the basement ] I'm going to finish posting about my trip, I promise. But at the moment I'm catching up on the news, and locally that involves tracking tornadoes, which is distracting. We're fine so far, and it looks like no one has been hurt. A few items from my Google reading list: Amazing HELOC abuse. A HELOC is a home equity line of credit. Nearly impossible to get now, these were being handed out like candy during the housing boom, and led to people using their houses like ATMs. This is an extraordinary example. Over $3 million dollars withdrawn on a house that's assessed at less than $350,000? The first WTF in this exchange is that Joe Barton thought this was a sensible question. The second is that Barton thought that Chu was baffled about anything except how stupid someone can be and still get elected to Congress. I'm not sure if it's the concept of plate tectonics that escapes him, or if he doesn't understand that fossil fuels are not renewable resources. Thanks to petzipellipingo for linking me to this story about reactions to gay marriage in Iowa. I'd like to see more acceptance, but I agree with the gist of the story, which is that most Iowans get the concept of tolerance. They may still be uncomfortable with same-sex marriage, but they're likely to comment that they're not too crazy about that guy their niece is marrying either, and they're putting up with that, so what the heck. Besides, we have real gathering storms, not to mention tornadoes, to worry about. Tomorrow is the first day same-sex couples can get marriage certificates in Iowa, and the local Recorder's office is just a few blocks from here. I'm tempted to drive by to see if anyone other than the two guys who are always marching in front of the women's health center bother to show up to object. Mr. M will certainly go by because he's writing an article for a Polish feminist magazine. In the meantime, the Iowa legislature is finishing up its session and completely ignoring the issue, which means it's not likely to reach a ballot before everyone gets comfortable with the notion and goes back to arguing about hog manure spills. Mr. M clicked over to Newhart from the news for a few minutes, and I spent a few minutes wondering why the actor playing the advocate for nuclear war seemed so familiar. I finally realized it was Simon Jones, aka Arthur Dent. post comment

Miss M's excellent vacation adventure [22 Apr 2009|10:29pm] Our schedule, set up after much searching for the cheapest fares and much discussion of what we each wanted to see most, was confusing but functional. Mr. M and I took off for Europe one day and got there after dawn on the next, except, of course, as far as our internal clocks were concerned it was still around midnight. I knew I was in London for reals when I found myself on the Underground listening to a voice tell me I was on the Piccadilly line heading towards Cockfosters. After locating our London hotel and spending some time walking around London, we visited the Tower. My first choice was St. Paul's, but it was closed to visitors on Sunday. We never did get to St. Paul's this visit, so it's high on my list of reasons to return. We crashed fairly early that day, of course. The next morning, we flew to Florence, which was a part of my cunning plan to deal with jet lag by sleeping on the planes. ( Unlike most of my plans, this one worked pretty well ) Sleepy now. Future installments will feature getting drunk at a Tuscan winery, our return to England, and meeting the divine keswindhover. And pictures. Um, what's a Dreamwidth and do I want one? I know I should know and probably once did, but I can't remember. post comment

Back from vacation [19 Apr 2009|06:28pm] I had a wonderful time in Italy and England. Not only were the places amazing, I finally got to meet the dazzling keswindhover, who includes being the world's best tour guide among her other talents. Also met up with M:TNG-1, who is attempting to visit all of Europe in 6 months without failing her semester abroad classes. I arrived home late Friday, which was an extremely long day (it had an extra 6 hours in it, thanks to the time changes) spent mostly on airplanes. Yesterday was spent recovering from a bit of jet lag and a very swollen foot, which was probably the result of those long plane rides. I've been avoiding sitting too long since, which is why I'm only posting now. I'll try to give a full report soon, and to get at least partially caught up with my FL. post comment

I question these test results [25 Mar 2009|09:30pm] I wrote a story called "Nocturnal Emissions" about, yeah, nocturnal emissions. That featured male chastity belts. How did I still manage to get that far over on the "clean" side? ( The 3 Variable Funny Test ) I feel like a failure as a sleaze. Woe. post comment

BSG finale [20 Mar 2009|11:18pm] ( spoilers ) Some evil gremlin is messing with my icons. I've heard about this happening to other users, so I guess it's my turn. I'll worry about it in the morning. Blues Brothers is on. post comment

An economic sector that's been making good decisions? [08 Mar 2009|10:16pm] Kiva sent me a link to this video about a microlending group in Nepal. It's longish, but if you find the first half boring in spite of the music, check out Rita's story beginning at about 5:40. The woman strikes me as competence personified. I could easily visualize her running a board meeting, except she seems to have a lot more common sense than the CEOs who have been in the news lately. Kiva in Nepal: A Field Visit from Chris Baker on Vimeo. Source for more info about the microlending process. You don't earn interest back (although interest is charged borrowers to cover administrative costs), so it would be like giving to a charity, if you got your charitable donations back eventually and were able to make another donation with the same money. I checked into instances of fraud, and there have been a few but Kiva seems to resolve them quickly, and default rates are low. I've looked for similar sites that work in developed countries but haven't found any that I feel are stable and trustworthy. {cross-posting to ontd_political} post comment

What's keeping me busy [08 Mar 2009|09:17pm] It finally got warmer, and then lots of rain hit the frozen ground and leaked into the storage area of the basement. Not as bad as it could be, although I did have to pull up carpeting in some of the adjoining areas and will have to get new backing for that. Of course, both the living areas affected had bookcases on them. (The "of course" isn't sarcastic. Most of the living areas in my house have bookcases on them.) So there are now books piled around all over as well as bits of artificial Christmas tree that are drying out and all the stuff that is normally in the storage area. It's going to have to stay that way until I can get the area fully dry, wash the carpet, and put down new carpet backing. At least the rooms will be well turned out. I'm just considering it a head start on spring cleaning. I've applied for a new passport and we have tickets to fly to London in April. M:TNG-1 will meet us there. She and Mr. M have two goals: to take the Monty Python walking tour and to see Chelsea v Bolton. For once, work is caught up, but I'm trying to train someone to do my job while I'm gone. Since my job is to compensate for all the places the database is wonky, my coworker is approaching the process with considerable (and, I admit, justified) trepidation. Especially when I say, "Okay, this process used to work, but then one of the customers changed something and now it doesn't and we haven't figured out how to help them fix it, but I did figure out what this other customer is doing wrong, so now we can fix all this stuff over here. Now, this problem, it WAS fixed, but they broke it again in a new way..." post comment

More confirmation that I'm just pretending to be a grown up [01 Mar 2009|10:19pm] After we got our internet access back, I realized that deadlines were looming, so I buckled down and pulled together the tax information and the kids' financial aid applications. With the tax forms done, I was able to confirm that we probably shouldn't take a big trip this year, but what the hell. So Mr. M and I sat down and worked out an itinerary for April and we should be ready to book. If I could only remember what I did with my passport. Arggh! post comment

So, there I was, all Yay! I have my laptop back... [25 Feb 2009|09:10pm] And the cable and broadband went out all last night. post comment

Return of the laptop [23 Feb 2009|07:27pm] FedEx returned my computer to me today. At least, I assume it's the same one, but it's hard to be sure. I took the hard drive out before shipping it, and they replaced not just the fan (ha! I told everyone I talked to on the phone the fan was the problem!) but the keyboard and some of the casing. Those things were certainly not in perfect condition, but I was accustomed to which keys were sticky and the crack on the side of the case wasn't really bothering anything. However, non-sticky keys are a bonus. I doubt I'll ever get caught up with LJ, and I apologize for all the birthdays I missed. Work is crazy for some reason, because this should be a slow period. But I keep finding out new things that our customers have done that didn't work out the way they planned or that suffer from lack of planning on their part. Mr. M and I are planning a trip abroad. We're talking about meeting M:TNG-1 in London or Florence, two cities we seem to have settled on as our most probable destinations. I'm not sure I believe we're really going anywhere yet, but it's about time we had a real honeymoon. I'm also considering stimulating the economy by buying a new fridge. It would be nice to own one that is significantly younger than the kids and has shelves and handles that aren't Gorilla-glued together. It is cold. It is still cold. It has been cold forever. And it snowed again yesterday. post comment

Politics [08 Feb 2009|11:53am] Current fashions: After Blago, I thought abuse of position would continue to be the latest thing in scandals. Then a bunch of Democrats made a run away from Blago and towards income tax problems, with Tom Daschle in the lead. But now Michael Steele, the new Republican National Committee leader, has gone with misuse of campaign funds. Also, Steele used to be Mike Tyson's brother-in-law, but that isn't enough to get him to tysonic levels. He'll have to do it on his own, and I'm not sure he's got the right stuff. *makes popcorn* In the meantime, nobody has sorted out what the bankers are doing with our money yet, and a lot of people just aren't getting that tax cuts are not the thing any more. I know food stamps don't strike most of us as high fashion, but if you've been in a grocery store the day that Social Security pays out, you know that giving poor people money for food is going to get cash into the economy pretty fast. I'm amazed that the NSFW clips of Obama quoting a high school friend didn't get posted during the election. But they have now been used to make the best Christian Bale mashup ever. Do not play at work. Yes, that's really him. It's from an audio book. More awesome Obamaness: The President appoints an openly gay man to his council on faith-based and neighborhood partnerships. post comment

The High School Senior Year meme [08 Feb 2009|10:36am] I still haven't done the "random things" one that I was tagged for, but this one was easier, and less traumatic than I expected, probably because high school was a huge improvement on junior high, which was an improvement on elementary school. gakked from gillo, fenchurche, missus_grace, among others. ( The High School meme ) ( Bonus true story showing how crazy this place was ) post comment

Blago speaks...and speaks...and speaks [29 Jan 2009|11:34am] The trill is gone, Rod. Although I did like your riff on Gonzales, "I have a recollection of actually remembering this." But your insistence that the "means justify the ends" does not appear to be impressing the Illinois legislature. post comment

Wait a minute... [27 Jan 2009|11:30am] CNN is partnering on stories with Pro Publica? And on a story that's looking at commercial real estate loans, the next stage (or one of the next stages) of the economic crisis, instead of just looking back and saying, "Huh? What happened?" Just when I was getting into my rhythm mocking them, they go do good journalism. post comment

I should not listen to the Sunday pundit-fests [25 Jan 2009|01:09pm] Shorter version of the argument against closing Gitmo: They've screwed up everything to do with it so much that there's no way you can fix it, so you might as well leave it be. And the guys the Bush administration released from there? Everything they've done is your fault, retroactively. And if you have to release anyone, that will be much worse than when Bush did it. Shorter Al-Quaida: Obama is a vicious, murdering wimp who we mock for liking puppies and children. And, no, that attitude is not inconsistent. So there. Shorter Supreme Court: How many times do we have to tell you to follow the Constitution? Shorter Office of Military Commissions: Remember that JAG officer who "A Few Good Men" was based on? Let's see if he can figure out how prosecute these cases. Shorter me: What, you expect five years of chaos to be sorted out in five days? Chill. It's not just Obama who wants to get some grownups in charge. A good chunk of the military and the judiciary is standing right behind him. Oh, and nobody is going to put those guys in a halfway house near you. If they come to your town, it will be because you have a prison that is already holding some very, very bad people--people who might find it a lot easier to blend in if they escaped than any of the Gitmo prisioners. Oh, and what would political life be like without some Blago? Shorter version of his visit to the "Today Show": I'm Gandhi, MLK, and Mandela, all rolled into one! Admire me! And damn, Blago is going on The View. I vowed never to watch that train wreck again, but this is just too enticing. post comment

Flyby [24 Jan 2009|10:03pm] Jack's hat courtesy of here and, of course, Aretha. He does look annoyed with me, doesn't he? Birthday wishes courtesy of me, and I'm afraid they're belated again! Honestly, I do keep track of birthdays. It's just that I'm often not sure what day it is. hieispike.revdorothyl, morgantree, schehrezade_1 (missing you!), sunshine18, and boniblithe, I hope you had great days. I still haven't seen this week's BSG. I will be checking on my FL as soon as RL settles down a bit. post comment

The Happiness Meme, Day 8 [23 Jan 2009|07:32pm] THE HAPPINESS MEME Rules: For eight days you have to post something that made you happy that day. Blago speaks! . . . again And once again, I'm inappropriately amused. This time, his enemies' evil plots to keep him from saving lives took a backseat to a more personal cry. "It's not FAIR!" Because he was out digging fence post holes or lassoing stray horses when Obama's Senate seat was put up for sale. Or something. At any rate, he's being denied his right to a fair trial. Of course, the "rights" he refers to apply to criminal proceedings, not Impeachment hearings, but hey, he was on a roll with the whole lynching metaphor. The press must come to his rescue! (Presumably setting aside his trying to get certain of their members fired for criticizing him out of compassion for his current position.) He continues to show just how the Chewbacca Defense is done. post comment

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