Ren Fest

It's not what it used to be before the amusement park people bought it up. It is so crassly commercial now it bears little resemblance to the festival I went to for the first time 21 years ago while hugely pregnant with the prodigal son.

It was hot and humid, but I still enjoyed myself. There were people to stare at - whom I would dearly have liked to take snaps of as an object lesson of what not to wear in public - and lemonade and pretzels and having friends pop over for a surprise visit to help me celebrate my birthday. There was wine with the King's feast which I really shouldn't have drunk - especially not three glasses of - since I was driving home. There was a very lovely breeze through the pines and oaks every once in a while that cooled us down and made the air echo with the sound of leaves laughing at the wind.

The drive up was leisurely and relaxed. We joined a caravan of weekend warriors from several area motorcycle clubs out for a jaunt. I would guess there were 100 or more riders cruising along in their various club colors. The ride back was also leisurely but nothing as interesting as the bikers offered up any distraction.

And now, the pictures . . .

What I unaffectionately call the Roman Coliseum that now encompasses the jousting field . . .



The living statue . . .



The ATM huts that the best friend and I took to calling the Mexican outhouses . . .



The wedding chapel and the rose garden . . .



The children's carousel (and a pretzel vendor) . . .



The chain mail shop hawking its wares . . .



I have not a clue who these people were supposed to be, but the masks were beautiful . . .



Some jousting . . .



And lastly but very definitely not leastly, the friends who arranged for us all to attend the King's feast and who popped over to pay a surprise visit for my birthday, I present the best friend's brother and the best friend's brother's wife (and a guest appearance by the shade of birthday present in the first photo.)

In keeping with the day

Four from Epilogue:

Doctor A : Pumpkin King

bao pham : Halloween: Pumpkins

Terry Robinson : A Closer Look?

Maja Krzyzanowska : happy halloween

A quick peek

This is the best friend this morning before we wore ourselves out shopping.

This is a mural being painted on the side of a building that houses a theatre. One set of characters on the mural look like zombies to me.

A close up of the part of the mural that reminds me of zombies. I'm not sure who these people are supposed to be. The best friend guessed they might have been meant to be Dean Martin and possibly Frank Sinatra. Don't know. They just look like zombies to me.

And I've finally got a snap of the intersection of This Way and That Way. See, people, I wasn't kidding.

And lastly, just to round things out, a snap of moss in a tree. It looked really pretty in person.

Scarcity

I shall probably be very scarce until Monday or Tuesday. The best friend arrived last night to spend the weekend helping me celebrate my birthday. I expect to be on the move until I drop her off at the airport Monday morning for her flight back home.

Play nice while I'm gone!

Anything for $20

A woman was sitting at a bar enjoying an after work cocktail with her girlfriends when an exceptionally tall, handsome, extremely sexy middle-aged man entered.

He was so striking that the woman could not take her eyes off him.

The young-at-heart man noticed her overly attentive stare and walked directly toward her.

Before she could offer her apologies for so rudely staring, he leaned over and whispered to her, "I'll do anything, absolutely anything, that you want me to do, no matter how kinky, for $20.00......on one condition."

Flabbergasted, the woman asked what the condition was.

The man replied, "You have to tell me what you want me to do in just three words."

The woman considered his proposition for a moment, then slowly removed a $20 bill from her purse, which she pressed into the man's hand along with her address.

She looked deeply into his eyes, and slowly, and meaningfully said...





"Clean my house."

Domino Artwork

Wow.

Flickr: Photos tagged with eclipse

Here's a slew of eclipse photos people have posted. It really was a blood moon last night.

ScientificAmerican.com | Mini Human Species Unearthed

In what is being hailed as one of the most spectacular paleoanthropological finds of the past century, researchers have unearthed the remains of a dwarf human species that survived on the Indonesian island of Flores until just 13,000 years ago. The discovery significantly extends the known range of physical variation in our genus, Homo, and reveals that H. sapiens shared the planet with other humans much more recently than previously believed. -- read the rest.

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | 'Hobbit' joins human family tree

Scientists have discovered a new and tiny species of human that lived in Indonesia at the same time our own ancestors were colonising the world.

The three-foot (one-metre) tall species - dubbed "the Hobbit" - lived on Flores island until at least 12,000 years ago. -- read the rest.

BBC NEWS | Scotland | Cats suffer stress, experts say

Cats can suffer from stress-related illness like humans, a study by animal experts suggests.

Rivalry with another cat is the biggest source of feline anxiety closely followed by moving home or the arrival of a new member of the owner's family. -- read the rest.

One last shot

The moon has risen above the clouds and I got one last shot of it. This photo was taken about 9:30 p.m. Doesn't much look like the moon and there is nothing else in the picture to use as a reference point. To the naked eye, the moon is kind of a reddy brown. It's times like this I wish I had a much better camera so I could take decent pictures.

Clouds have rolled in

And you can't see the eclipse anymore. I'll keep checking 'cause I'd like to see it, but who knows if the clouds will clear up.

The prodigal son

These are snaps I took of the prodigal son while he was talking to his sister on the phone.

The beginning of the eclipse

I took this photo at about 8:30 p.m. The lower left bit of the moon is starting to be eclipsed.

Itsy bitsy revision

I've made an itsy bitsy revision to the site. I've added a menu and a couple of pages of other stuff under the Library menu option.

Total lunar eclipse

I just found out the Houston area gets a total lunar eclipse tomorrow night. That should be neato to see. While I was reading the information on the eclipse, the prodigal son stuck his head into my room to ask if he could rent some video games. I told him about the eclipse tomorrow. He asked me where and I, with the straightest of faces, answered, "Outside."

Sometimes it's good to be a smart ass.

When life hands you lemons

I've stopped making lemonade. I've moved on to making room deodorizer instead.

I just got back from taking my car to the dealership to find out what that interesting noise is it makes when I press the accelerator. My something or other valve is kaput and the part will have to be ordered. It should be in "sometime next week". The something or other valve has to do with the fuel system and driving with it broken shouldn't cause any damage to the car, but I will get really rotten gas mileage until it is replaced.

Really rotten gas mileage? You mean the rotten gas mileage this particular model gets isn't really rotten to begin with? Gosh, who'd have thunk it?

Ha, I almost forgot the good news. The valve is covered under my extended warranty so it won't cost me an arm and two legs to replace. -- See, room deodorizer.

BBC NEWS | Europe | Mozart's relatives face DNA tests

Researchers in the Austrian city of Salzburg have dug up the bodies of relatives of composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in a search for DNA samples.

The scientists hope to find out if a skull currently held at Mozart's memorial foundation in the city is his. -- read the rest.

One from Epilogue

Rachel Anderson : Peter...

Rodomontade

from Dictionary.com:

rodomontade \rod-uh-muhn-TADE; roh-duh-; -TAHD\, noun:
Vain boasting; empty bluster; pretentious, bragging speech; rant.

Rodomontade comes from Italian rodomontada, from Rodomonte, a great yet boastful warrior king in Italian epics of the late 15th - early 16th centuries. At root the name means "roller-away of mountains," from the Italian dialect rodare, "to roll away" (from Latin rota, "wheel") + Italian monte, "mountain" (from Latin mons).

FoxTrot by Bill Amend

Children, children!

(If the title link has gone out of date, click here for the saved image.)

Leafy Sea Dragons

Sea Dragons are arguably the most spectacular and mysterious of all ocean fish. Though close relatives of sea horses, sea dragons have larger bodies and leaf-like appendages which enable them to hide among floating seaweed or kelp beds. Sea dragons feed on larval fishes and amphipods, such as and small shrimp-like crustaceans called mysids ("sea lice"), sucking up their prey in their small mouths. Many of these amphipods feed on the red algae that thrives in the shade of the kelp forests where the sea dragons live. -- read the rest and see the pictures.

If I were the devil - version 2

If I were the devil . . .

I would gain control of the most powerful nation in the world;

I would delude their minds into thinking that a 3000-year-old collection of superstition and mythology called the 'Bible' was a more valid guide to the modern world than reason and science;

I would promote an attitude of valuing economic expansion and personal wealth over people and the environment, instead of the other way around;

I would dupe an entire population into placing the greatest tax burden on their poorest citizens;

I would convince people that image rather than achievement was the most important issue when it comes to leadership;

I would ensure that men maintained control over women's bodies and sexuality;

I would make it socially acceptable to deny terminally ill patients the right to end their own lives with dignity, and instead force them to spend their final days in continual pain and suffering;

I would promote the exploitation and suffering of animals as much as possible, so that business profits would be valued more than treating living things humanely;

I would coerce schoolchildren into worshiping my god and call it "freedom of religion";

I would get control of the government by stealing elections and leading the country into unnecessary wars, so that I could twist the laws of the nation to suit my agenda;

I would attack minorities, foreigners, women, homosexuals, and every other powerless group, the backbone of any nation;

I would force couples to remain in unworkable marriages. Unhappy people are easier to control;

I would suppress freedom of speech and expression, and I would call it protecting society;

I would convince the world that people choose to be homosexuals, and that their lifestyles should be reviled and demonized;

I would convince the people that right and wrong are determined by a few bigoted religious zealots who refer to their agenda as Christian;

I would persuade people that the Bible, a book that condones xenophobia, slavery, subordination of women, and stoning people to death, is a relevant guide to modern life;

I guess I would leave things pretty much the way they are.

If I were the devil - version 1

If I were the devil . . .

I would gain control of the most powerful nation in the world;

I would delude their minds into thinking that they had come from man's effort, instead of God's blessings;

I would promote an attitude of loving things and using people, instead of the other way around;

I would dupe entire states into relying on gambling for their state revenue;

I would convince people that character is not an issue when it comes to leadership;

I would make it legal to take the life of unborn babies;

I would make it socially acceptable to take one's own life, and invent machines to make it convenient;

I would cheapen human life as much as possible so that the life of animals are valued more than human beings;

I would take God out of the schools, where even the mention of His name was grounds for a lawsuit;

I would come up with drugs that sedate the mind and target the young, and I would get sports heroes to advertise them;

I would get control of the media, so that every night I could pollute the mind of every family member for my agenda;

I would attack the family, the backbone of any nation.

I would make divorce acceptable and easy, even fashionable. If the family crumbles, so does the nation;

I would compel people to express their most depraved fantasies on canvas and movie screens, and I would call it art;

I would convince the world that people are born homosexuals, and that their lifestyles should be accepted and marveled;

I would convince the people that right and wrong are determined by a few who call themselves authorities and refer to their agenda as politically correct;

I would persuade people that the church is irrelevant and out of date, and the Bible is for the naive;

I would dull the minds of Christians, and make them believe that prayer is not important, and that faithfulness and obedience are optional;

I guess I would leave things pretty much the way they are.

If I haven't mentioned it before

I'd like to say that Microsoft's Internet Explorer is a worthless pile of bovine excrement. I've been trying to tweak this blog template to make it look the way I want and it works just fine in the newest versions of the Mozilla browsers, but it looks like crap in IE. I am so tired of trying to figure out what IE wants that nobody else does.

Fight for democracy

"A citizen of America will cross the ocean to fight for democracy, but won't cross the street to vote in a national election." -- Bill vaughan

Aristotle and brain activity

"Aristotle was famous for knowing everything. He taught that the brain exists merely to cool the blood and is not involved in the process of thinking. This is true only of certain persons." -- Will Cuppy

Décor has been updated

OK. I've changed the décor again. This is just the first pass of this version. I'm still tweaking it. Let me know if anything looks bad or doesn't work right. I've tried testing it, but since I'm so close to it I'm sure I've overlooked something.

Two more from Epilogue

Selina Fenech : Moonlit Magic

Selina Fenech : Little Boy Blue

Little Suzie still running after all the updates

Well, I've been putting Little Suzie through her paces and she's held up like a champ. Other than a couple of annoying informational messages telling me I'm moving from a secured site to an unsecured site - or possibly vice versa - nothing I have installed on her seems to care I've upgraded to SP2 for XP Home.

While I was at it, I downloaded and installed the newest versions of Mozilla Firefox, Mozilla Thunderbird, and the Mozilla suite. All three products are working as expected which makes me so very happy 'cause I really like my Thunderbird.

I'm tired again. The cats are all zonked out and my knees ache from sitting too low on the sofa to type on the computer. I think I'm going to go zonk out myself.

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Unknown actor lands Superman role

Little-known US actor Brandon Routh has been cast as the man of steel in the new Superman film, due out in 2006. The 25-year-old from Iowa will fill the role famously played by Christopher Reeve, who died earlier this month. -- read the rest.

Ow!

I'm sitting at my desk at work with half my face numb. I just got back from the dentist. Despite the numb, my teeth hurt. Badly. If I could figure out how to drink something without drooling it all over myself, I'd take some Advil. And the numb isn't really numb numb - it tingles like when your foot falls asleep and then wakes up. Ugh!

Ugh! Ugh! Ugh!

Updated Windows

I decided to take the plunge and update my laptop. It's running Windows XP Home - I prefer XP Pro but XP Home is what Little Suzie came with - and so far the plunge into SP2 appears to be painless though it was very time consuming. I spent about six hours updating the OS as well as a few other programs. So far there have been no hiccups or glitches, but I've only verified my Symantec Anti-virus is still working and that I can surf the 'net. Since it is already past my bedtime, doing a more thorough evaluation of the upgrade will have to wait until tomorrow.

The King's Feast

Got an email from the best friend last night. She's treating me to the King's Feast at Ren Fest as my birthday present. Woohoo!

Wired News: Fish Tales Solve Genetic Puzzles

A species of puffer fish has helped scientists identify 900 human genes that went previously unnoticed. -- read the rest.

Job Growth Record by President

President George W. Bush is on his way to one of the worst records for job growth for any president in more than half a century. Nearly 1.6 million private-sector jobs have been lost since Bush became president. -- see the graphic.

Thomas Jefferson once said

"Thomas Jefferson once said, 'We should never judge a president by his age, only by his works.' And ever since he told me that, I stopped worrying." -- Ronald Reagan

The Mother Muffin Affair

I just stumbled across an episode of The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. starring Boris Karloff . . . in drag . . . with pink hair. I think this episode falls under the category of "Now I've seen everything!" I wish I'd stumbled across the episode at the beginning of it instead of half way through. It looked to be a hoot.

I can actually remember watching The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. as well as The Man from U.N.C.L.E. when I was knee high to a grasshopper, but I don't really remember anything specific about either show except that I had a crush on Mark Slate (the character Noel Harrison played in 'Girl') and Illya Kuryakin (David McCallum in 'Man'). Even at that tender age I was a sucker for a man with an accent.

BBC NEWS | Europe | Dutch uncover diary of Nazi camp

The diary of the dark days a Jewish teenager spent in a Nazi detention camp awaiting deportation has come to light in the Netherlands.

Helga Deen, 18, wrote the diary during the three months she spent in the camp in 1943 so her Dutch boyfriend could understand what she was experiencing. -- read the rest.

Living la vida bleh

I'm feeling particularly uninspired. After the incredible high of house cleaning last week, I've sunk into the doldrums of not wanting to do much of anything except sit in a corner and watch the paint on the wall age. I'm still plugging away at redoing my blog décor and I expect to have it done just in time to decide I don't like it after all. I have managed to finish one book, read a second, and start a third, but I don't really feel much like reading. I've gotten bored with crocheting so my curtain has been sitting untouched wherever it was I put it to keep it away from the kittens who don't play with my yarn while I'm crocheting but love to toss it around when I'm not.

I did watch the Farscape mini-series and that's left me depressed. I don't like the sense of impending finality it engendered. Oh, well. All good things must come to an end (mostly because shortsighted hacks obsessed with money can't see past the ends of their noses.)

I'm still looking forward to Ren Fest tho' that might change if the weather doesn't. I would rather it be a fair, breezy day than one of these muggy, heavy days we've been having. I don't do muggy very well and I always wind up miserable.

Oh, well. I've got about half hour of lunch left so I think I'll work on the new décor for a bit.

BBC NEWS | Health | Baby sex link to domestic status

The living arrangements of parents at the time a baby is conceived may play a role in determining its sex, research suggests. -- read the rest.

Hidden in a British Museum basement: the lost Ark looted by colonial raiders

On a shelf in a locked basement room underneath the British Museum, are kept 11 wooden tablets; they are covered in purple velvet. And no one among the museum's staff - including Neil MacGregor, the director - is permitted to enter the room.

The tablets - or tabots - are sacred objects in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and the most important of the 500 or so priceless Magdala treasures, looted by Britain from Ethiopia in 1868 and now held in this country. For almost two decades, the only people allowed access have been Ethiopian church clergy; it is considered sacrilegious for anyone else to see them. -- read the rest.

Scotsman.com News - Top Stories - Blair runs out of support over Baghdad mission for Black Watch

TONY Blair was left isolated last night as his decision to send Black Watch soldiers into Iraq’s infamous Sunni Triangle to cover American troops was greeted with total opposition.

Even pro-war MPs refused to back the deal with the United States.-- read the rest.

BBC NEWS | Americas | Early problems hit Florida voting

Technical glitches and long queues took the sheen off the first day of early voting in the US state of Florida. -- read the rest.

FoxTrot by Bill Amend

Teenagers!

(If the title link has gone out of date, click here for the saved image.)

Idealism

"Idealism is what precedes experience; cynicism is what follows." -- David T. Wolf

The New York Times > National > The G.I.'s: Soldiers Saw Refusing Order as Their Last Stand

JACKSON, Miss., Oct. 17 - What does it take for a man like Staff Sgt. Michael Butler, a 24-year veteran of the Army and the Reserve who was a soldier in the first Persian Gulf war and a reserve called up to fight in the current war in Iraq, to risk everything by disobeying a direct order in wartime? -- read the rest.

Note: The New York Times requires a log in account to read articles. I strongly recommend getting either a dummy yahoo or hotmail account for these kind of sites.

The early bird gets the vote - The Daily Texan - Top Stories

Early voting began this morning in Travis County, and the University Democrats want to be the first in line to cast their ballots.

Starting Sunday night at 9:30 p.m., the University Democrats sponsored an all-night slumber party in front of the Undergraduate Library called Voterama. The UGL is one of many early voting locations. -- read the rest.

t r u t h o u t - GOP Faces 'Civil War' over Bush's Faith Based Rule

In the summer of 2002, after I had written an article in Esquire that the White House didn't like about Bush's former communications director, Karen Hughes, I had a meeting with a senior adviser to Bush. He expressed the White House's displeasure, and then he told me something that at the time I didn't fully comprehend - but which I now believe gets to the very heart of the Bush presidency.

The aide said that guys like me were "in what we call the reality-based community," which he defined as people who "believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality." I nodded and murmured something about enlightenment principles and empiricism. He cut me off. "That's not the way the world really works anymore," he continued. "We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality - judiciously, as you will - we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do." -- read all of it.

Elmer L. Andersen: Why this Republican ex-governor will be voting for Kerry

Throughout my tenure and beyond as the 30th governor of this state, I have been steadfastly aligned -- and until recently, proudly so -- with the Minnesota Republican Party.

It dismays me, therefore, to have to publicly disagree with the national Republican agenda and the national Republican candidate but, this year, I must.

The two "Say No to Bush" signs in my yard say it all." --