Forgot to mention yesterday - fresh kittens in the neighborhood. I think Tuxedo-kitty is the father, and one of the "cimnim" kitties is the mama.

No matter how stony-hearted I can get... baby kittens melt it pretty quickly. (Kittens are good for discipline and mind control, as anyone who's watched Hyperdrive can tell you.)

See also, Obama with a Kitty as running mate. (Personally, I'd like to see Kcarab Amabo, AKA The Evil Mirror Universe Barack Obama join in the festivities. )

---

My livejournal account is 8 years old today.

I didn't really get to posting daily until 8/2000, but 9284 posts in 8 years is pretty surprising to me. Something like 3 posts a day, give or take.

Some had a lot more content than others, of course.

In 8 years... a lot has happened. If you'd have told me then that I would still be doing this now, I'd probably have doubted it. The LJ community as a whole has changed hands a few times. The service has been a great boon to me.

I met my wonderful wife on livejournal.... and more than a couple of other new and delightful people from around the world in person as a result, too.

I reconnected with friends that I thought were long lost - both from gaming groups and high school.

I've pretty thoroughly documented my 30s here. Walkabouts, musings, dating, work - there's not much about me that you can't find here... some things are privatized or friends-only security, but the vast majority is open to the world. I sometimes wonder if that's a good idea, but it's worked well for me so far.

I tend to keep my really rough rants or personal lists (shopping for presents and reminders, mostly) to myself. I also used to archive chats here, before google talk; which automatically does it now. I'm guessing there weren't many - maybe 20 or 30, tops.

I'm not really online much for chatties these days, but here and there you might catch me, dear journal. (Gmail checks, generally) my profile page has a list of assorted locations to look me up.

---

Adam's in Haiti, doing more missionary work - he sounds all right, there were a lot of concerns for his safety. Funny that nobody raised safety issues when he went to Guatemala last year.

a bulk email he sent out -


glad to hear he's aok! I suspected as much.

---

1 year ago - 7th year entry, milk and cheese figures, bhk takes care of tm's kitties, lunch with in-laws, David and Gill move to Charlotte

2 years ago - 6th anniversary, clothes shopping, busy recovery week, Don't ask for directions in Baltimore

3 years ago - Star Wars, Dead Riddler, PETA kills animals, Newt @ kittenwar, neobrara, hong kong bun-snatching, sex offender sweep

4 years ago - wet week, duckling videos, lots of wander-pics, you're so vain (odd couple sing), using wifi for plausible deniability, Feast Day of St. Dunstan, Florida Black Bear

5 years ago - bro fishing, Eh.net, asteroid probe, bookhenge in There, Drunk Man Hurt After Running Into Elephant, PT, severe weather, #21 in top 40, ljer ages, compat quiz

6 years ago - no cpap, broken pic links for me to fix later, grocery,waste to energy, Mayan symbols, ginger orange tofu, hot mail copying yahoo jerkiness

7 years ago - Iron Chef, Family Guy, Lj troublesome, feeling coarse, gals system down, astley hoses me over.

8 years ago - Scottobear's LJ is Born - just a marker, really.

Dreamt last night that we were touring a pair of Monasteries - Tibetan style, Buddhist things. Apparently, I wasn't too interested in the firs tone, and had to rush to the second before the bell rang - doors would lock and wild dogs tore apart anyone not inside one of the two feuding temples when the bells summoned them.

The ground between the two buildings slid and shifted... I (much more nimbly than I might've in waking life) leaped from stepping stone to stepping stone, avoiding too-clear water that was running thickly, like syrup. Once on the second place's stairs, the dogs curled up and went to sleep.

The building itself was very nifty - all sorts of oddities inside, not unlike a Ripley's. One was closed off with a curtain - a skeletal mammoth with an elephant-sized, but human shaped skull - save for a single tusk/horn curling upwards from the tip of the chin area of the mandible. I went to take a picture of it, but a guard (I don't recall his garb - if he was a mall security type or a warrior-sort.. I just knew he worked there, wasn't just some guy) told me that it was forbidden. He then smiled at me, took a picture with his cell phone and was promptly gored by the skeleton. The tusk tore a rip in him from crotch to throat and where he opened up, rose petals fell until the body was just an empty skin.

A different member of the monestary showed up and apologized to me - I couldn't attend service, because the priest was shorter than me. However another fellow, taller than me would be available to walk me through services on Tuesday, at 8:30. I asked if he meant morning or night, and he laughed... "Don't you work? - it's at night.. it'll be 8:30 pm to 10pm, then there'll be snacks, bell ringing and wheel turning. Does your wife dance?"

I said that she did, though we really have never been.

I've never been to a Tibetan monastery... now, I suspect that I'll be a bit disappointed.

After telling her about it, BHK says that I'll never get hot dogs grilled with onions and green peppers for dinner again. I hope that's not the case.

---

ok these are awesome: http://www.instantrimshot.com/ and http://www.sadtrombone.com/

---

---

I just noticed that it's the anniversary of my father's death. It was ages ago... I miss him, now that I think about it, but I haven't really had him in my thoughts much in recent times. I wonder why... I wouldn't have realized if I hadn't seen the archives, at least not until I saw 5/15 on my calendar at work, I guess.

---

1 year ago - Father's Death Anniversary, Mom hears from Bro re: his sentencing, my challenges, happy to be "up north" and out of FL, people who have moved, more shaved ice (with pix)

2 years ago - bird flu / monkey pox, walkabout, podcasts, newtcam pics, jack lemmon, hoot, saucermen, exploding pants, bus ride poll, hail,

3 years ago - MP gift, pabst t, won rum, don lapre's vitamin, personality defect, walkabout pics, monkey at large/safety in numbers, vampire sugar fuel cell, florida medicine is stupid, I smell good

4 years ago - first palm doodle on new palm, wireless sync, pics from houstons (hypno-orb), Library of Alexandria Discovered, Bones Found In Bag At Florida Cemetery

5 years ago - palm doodles, dreams / reflections on the old crew, chicken hawk cards,mailbox mystery, lunar eclipse, first use of publix grocery deliveries,Teen Girl Squad #3

6 years ago - saw waking life, dream thoughts, prep for star wars expedition

7 years ago - evil news, tumor thoughts, astley gives me defective hardware, humors,hunger-poll, Tsarist Russia photos in color, Paid users get fasterservers, Florida Joke

BHK made delicious pea soup! The perfect thing after a long day at work. Nomnommy. We supped over Ugly betty and the new TV Show King trivia game for the wii. I beat Abraham Lincoln, BHK and Bughah's Kitty Puddy (random computer players plucked from our Mii farm). I like it, but the wheel is a bit too random for me.

---

WorldWide Telescope, developed by Microsoft's research arm, knits together images from the Hubble Space Telescope, the Chandra X-Ray Observatory Center, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, and others. Windows users (only) can browse through the galaxy on their own or take guided tours of different outer-space destinations developed by astronomers and academics. The application allows viewing from different wavelengths such as X-ray, visible light, and hydrogen-alpha radiation. Business Week has a review and some background on the project, which has been in development for years. Google Sky beat them to the punch but Business Week opines that WWT's interface is superior.

---

Albert Einstein's True Religious Beliefs Revealed

(he rejects it as "childish superstition," but also disliked the hubris of atheism)

In the letter, he states: "The word god is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honourable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this."

---

Pictures of our town flooding from yesterday and before.

highlights from the slideshow provided by North Beach - reproduced here, but not taken by me.

....

...

.

I'm really digging the combination of Pyecam and Newtcam. I just have to update my internal pages with Pye-links now. The cams are really mis-named, since either of the boys can land on either cam... the Newtcam is more permanently affixed in the sunny office, while Pyecam is on the more mobile, but less frequently live laptop
.....

..

...

Newt seems to be the most interested in playing in front of the cams... Pye prefers the living room, I suspect.

I've upped the resolution on both... I'm also considering making one or both live streaming video.

---

Who said polar bears are carnivores? That must be some tasty watermelon, is all I'm saying. Some great photos.

---

 
Forgot to mention the ATW man -He and his monkey-faced pal were pregnant with baby bumps for mother's day. Clicks embiggen, as always.

..

---

"Burn Notice" returns on July 10 - so is it a summer filler?

---

 
1 year ago - mother's day w/ family, gaia hypothesis, gavagan's, jd's party

2 years ago - fp with kev, rain, Pelosi kma, goofy armor, stairway to heaven backwards

3 years ago - work related, friday 13th, mood poll, zombie hunting, phone-sleeping, book meme, mp3, scientology vs fictionology

4 years ago - fam stuff, toe socks

5 years ago - recycling into fuel oil, kitty quiz, PT, Apathetic Online Journal Entry Generator, potty poll, perfect toast

6 years ago - answer to oil dependency, iespell, memory of being a little kid w/ vampires, goofing around, dani postcard, 334, rain week

7 years ago - nonpareil, "hamburger helper, antibacterial", family hangout, old coversheet, daydream, dead guy in living room, watermelons, a basic truth, lj-smell poll, cleaning up oil using human hair (and you don't even need Superman to do it!)

Workity work lived up to its name - there was a lot of hustle today, still catching my breath at the bus stop.

---

I really want to see the John Adams series, but no HBO. I guess waiting and getting it on Netflix will have to do!

---

50 things I've done meme continues with item 36. I...

36.'was a pretty avid gamer, back in the day. At my peak, I was playing in 4 different groups a week. (Granted, some of the groups had crossover - GP and Kat were in two of 'em) I tended to compartmentalize my buddies back then - for whatever reason, I liked to keep the potatoes separate from the corn and the meat on the plate. Some friends-groups were linked, like GP & Kat, while others rarely even knew I was "gaming around".

Best gaming group ever was probably with just GP and Kat... "Brave and The Bold" stories. Two heroes, each of us got as much airtime or limelight as we wanted, and precious little lag from pokey party-members. The 4-6 player groups were good too, but when you don't have to wait so long for a turn in combat or a say in dialogue... it's the best. My biggest issue with extended groups is dealing with loners (sure, works in comics, but everyone else has to go into standby while they're off doing their own thing and hogging everyone else's play time. Best solution for that is probably keeping a character journal, and giving the GM a *brief* list of character developments between sessions. It's just not polite to go toddling off. I don't mind it as much when it goes sort of hill street blues style, where groups split off together into 2 teams, dividing and conquering... but that can make things slow,too. 2 to 3 players is about perfect. (4 with a gm).. wait a minute, I think I've covered this a bit before.

It's funny, but I have a mental block about most of PM's characters I recall Black Lotus (because I ran solos for her), but I don't remember anything more about harlequin, aside from the name. She had a swordy person, a ninja-y person, a horse-trainer, a shadow controller, some sort of fairy-friend in the Ars Magica game... but most of the names and personality slip my mind.. I think mostly because she kept her characters quite secret, though pretty heavily detailed if you did get a chance to read backstory or . I can remember Doug's Kit, KW's Chrysanthemum, and of course Danny's White Bow and Man of Iron quite clearly, for good or for ill. Tony's Silver Hammer and Russian Ben Grimm knockoff. All told, everyone had a good time.

Oh- Minglegrin... that was the name I was looking for. I can't make fun of the name much... character names like miniMAX, Zero, Parabola, Trism, Luhki Hornblower, Doc Firestone, Chuck Hurler - not to mention character names I can't think of off the top of my head... the albino ape from the earth's core and the grumpy cop from the paladins game that was paired with Danny's loony officer.

---

A very cool Planet of The Apes timeline. (movies, TV episodes, and etc) - GP, you might want this as a character reference!

---

I Am (No) Scientologist, Will Smith Says - Moviefone - I guess the boycott is off then for Hancock! BHK is happy, I'm sure.

---

1 year ago - Behind the Mask, Tigger Adopted!, whistle blowers get some clearance,

2 years ago - bethany, st patty plans sacked,

3 years ago - much work, webjay, Danny invite, George, potential condo piccies (many mock the pre-move decor)

4 years ago - Astronaut Jones, Square Bear, speak and spell, Frank R paul, I create an fdle syndicated lj

5 years ago - iwo jima in the rock garden, I start using jarhead, wish for peace

6 years ago - facemaker, cab stacking, poem tag, timeline, roles I've filled, cool bunker

7 years ago - cartoon logic that works, alice, I want tasty snack food, lone gunmen, workplace desires

Woke up bright and early, rip-roarin' and ready to roll. BHK and I had a tasty start of toasted bagels with cream cheese, and chugga-chugga-chugga.

After getting the parents, it was about... 11ish. Well, we didn't lose too much steam - the in-laws were loaded for bear (girl scout cookies, soda-pop, and egg sammiches) we rolled out to our destination... Baltimore!

It was a bit of a drive, but the scenery was lovely, and the company was good... we all chitty-chatted about all manner of small talk.

We arrived at the Aquarium Parking garage at about noon, and headed off to see items lovely and aquatic... but it was not meant to be. The crowd there for the holiday weekend was vast... Chris didn't want to navigate that swarm of roaming tourists. Totally understandable, if a little disappointing.

Upside... we had a secondary plan of action! The B&O Railway Museum! The place is sweet for folks that dig steam / diesel engines, or rail history at all (the B&O is pretty much the birthplace of American Railroading). We got a family membership to last us the year - it turned out the snow collapse of the roundhouse was 5 years ago to the day we returned. There's still a lot of restoration going on to the trains that were hit, but most of them are in beautiful shape. BHK and I got a couple of pressed pennies to add to our collection.

(some of our walkabout pictures on flickr here. - more to follow as I upload and make some shots public that are currently hidden.)

Got pretty tuckered out after 5 or six hours there, filling my brain with train. We headed off to Annapolis for some Cheeburger Cheeburger (they'e getting a lot of play from us lately!) and then home to relax and unwind with the kitties - plans were to hang out and watch a movie with the in-laws, but they were too pooped to pop, so BHK had a lovely night together, instead.

---

I can haz The Entire Bible? Man, lolcats! Nice use of your spare time!

I wonder if this will win any converts in one direction or the other?

---

1 year ago - Amy visit, mac & cheese, fluxx and movie

2 years ago - eye close poll, work bail, boosh, canal discovery, compusa check?, gg

3 years ago - Jill Gone, BK & GO, JLU, Newt's treat, mel-fade begins

4 years ago - Scotto on the enchanted path, bigfoot conference, Florida photos, Newt on his back

5 years ago - mickey gas mask, donkey kong jr, google bought blogger, mere-vallie, Scotto shop-palm, palm pic of the SG building, odd news

6 years ago - bloody mary mythos, feel poll, newt ill, rainy day, movie poll, fu-style, alphebetica cyberia

7 years ago - Haiku arena, weird al's wishlist

90 percent of the world ignore the Catholics until they need help melting a vampire.

Taco Bell employees could fold you into oblivion. Maybe they can't count or speak the language of the country they live in, and the band-aids on their oral herpes sores fall into your food, but Taco Bell employees are the foremost origami masters in the world. They have 3000 different lard-boiled flatulent treats - and ONE WRAPPER to put them all in. Even the Trainees, who get to proudly wear their status on their bean encrusted shirts can perfectly fold one of the 3,000,000 names on the wrapper to be in the exact center of a burrito.

I thought the people that worked there were just kids Taco Bell traded from smugglers for some beads and cigarettes, but hand one a magazine and they could fold you a time machine. I don't know if it's the most amazing origami training since the ancient Babylonians trained goats to fold special hats, or if all Taco Bell employees are from some kind of tiny specialized gene pool like Mormons or Sasquatch, but I do know this: If we ever stop eating, for any reason - we just might give these bastards time to destroy us. As soon as they stop screaming from grease splatter burns, we'll be at the mercy of them and their unstoppable army of paper warriors.

I caught this article in the Weekly World News at StaxStaxStax last
night. Since few of you would have picked up this magazine due
to the pair of 650 pound female models on the cover, I decided
to reproduce the article here:

(from the Weekly World News, page 17, 4th Issue 1995)

SUPERMAN'S SECRET IDENTITY WAS REALLY JESUS CHRIST!

[Massachusetts] Researchers at Miskatonic University recently
completed a seven year project code-named "Kent2". The purpose of
this study was to determine if Superman had another secret identity
aside from his "cover" secret ID of Clark Kent, revealed repeatedly
in comic books, movies, and television.

The researchers at Miskatonic used a Cray 2 supercomputer to search
national databases and media archives to find links between Superman
and other notable historic figures to find who he may REALLY have
been. The surprising answer given by the Cray, nicknamed "Shallow
Thought", after seven years of cross-indexing: Superman was really
none other than Jesus Christ.

Among the findings of the research team were the following:

Both Superman and Jesus were sent to another world as infants by
their fathers by means beyond our understanding. Both were
raised by surrogate parents who had no children of their own.
Jesus's surrogate parents where Joseph and Mary, Superman's were
George and Martha, a striking similarity. Both had the power to
leave their foster world at any time but chose not to for the
sake of that world.

Both Superman and Jesus hung out with and were followed by women
with the same first and last names. Superman had Lois Lane,
Jesus had Mary Magdalene. Neither ever consumated a romantic
relationship, perhaps because of their otherworldly origin.

This last-first name link was not limited to significant-other
females, but also included their arch-enemies. Superman's most
dangerous foe was Lex Luthor, Jesus's was Pontius Pilate. Both
enemies defeated the heroes but could never keep them down.

Both men were mild-mannered, but were feared by all in their wrath
when they became angered. Both refused any material reward for
their actions, and refused to participate in the squabbles between
nations. Both were tempted, but always resisted it.

Both Superman and Jesus died, although the true believers never
doubted they would come back (as they both did).


Other startling facts:

SUPERMAN got his powers from the Sun.
JESUS got his powers because he WAS the Son.

SUPERMAN formed a group called the Superfriends in his time, and
later came back to join the Legion of Super Heros far in the future.
JESUS formed a group called the Apostles in his time, and promised
to come back and do so again far in the future.

SUPERMAN was often linked with the violent, vengeful Batman and
the mysterious Wonder Woman who flew in an invisible plane.
JESUS was often linked with the violent, vengeful Old-Testament
Father and the Holy Ghost, who WAS an invisible plane.

JESUS said "Render unto Caesar what is due Caesar".
SUPERMAN's boss said "Great Caesar's Ghost!".

JESUS's death spawned four new gospels.
SUPERMAN's death spawned four new comic books.

JESUS could feed the masses with one loaf of bread and one fish.
SUPERMAN could squeeze a lump of coal into a diamond.

JESUS could have killed anyone with the power of damnation, but didn't.
SUPERMAN could have killed anyone with his heat vision, but didn't.

JESUS could play a guitar just like ringing a bell.
SUPERMAN...no wait, that wasn't Jesus, that was Johnny B. Goode.

JESUS's best follower was the faithful James.
SUPERMAN's best follower was the faithful Jimmy (Olsen).

JESUS warned us that there would be false Messiahs.
SUPERMAN warned us about Bizarro Superman.

JESUS took on the Sins of the World.
SUPERMAN took on the Crisis of the Infinite Earths.

SUPERMAN could be weakend and killed by Kryptonite.
JESUS could too, but luckily there wasn't any around back then.

SUPERMAN was faster than a speeding bullet.
JESUS was slower than a speeding spear.


Project Leader Prof. Val Ceth said the Shallow Thought computer will
next turn its attention on the puzzle of the secret identity of
the Batman. "We're pretty sure he's Ross Perot", said Prof. Ceth,
"but we're gonna run it through the computer just to be sure".

I heard about this thing called country music. I'm still pretty sure that it's a big group of cowboys that are playing the world's largest practical joke since Mormonism. And some day, they're all gonna take off their cowboy hats and chaps and say, "Got you!! Ha ha! Oh man, you guys totally bought it!"