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Thursday, August 7th, 2008
twapa
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9:28a
I need to post this because it's awesome.
Did I say awesome? I meant hilarious and disturbing.
This was the "sentence of the day" that I got in my email from Chinese-course.com on July 26:
因为缺货, 厨师们用马肉代替鲔鱼做寿司
"Due to the short supply of tuna, chefs use horse meat to replace it when making sushi."
... And there you have it.
current mood:  amused
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(1 comment | comment on this)
twapa
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8:20a
Empty house
*looks around*
... This is the first time I've been alone in over a month. : (
It's so lonely here without Roxie.
But she's having a good trip home, I guess. We had a lot of fun. We both dyed our hair yesterday. Hers is blue and mine is red.
Also, gas was down to $3.69 last night. I sincerely hope this trend continues!
current mood:  lonely
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(comment on this) Wednesday, August 6th, 2008
fod
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8:53p
Yesterday we had a raccoon visit our backyard. We've seen them around before, but only after dark. This time it wasn't even mildly dark yet. It came to eat birdseed, apparently. It was pretty cute, and didn't mind at all that we were watching it. I made sure to bring Putter inside so she wouldn't be tempted to chase it off and possibly get bitten or scratched. After hanging around for half an hour, it went back down into the gully behind the house.
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(comment on this)
twapa
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9:12a
In the jeans.
Better post my review before I forget!
"New Genetics: The Study of Lifelines" by J.S. and Renee A. Kidd
For a textbook, this was a surprisingly interesting read - unfortunately I had to stop reading for 2 weeks while on vacation and then check the book out again, so I don't know how much I actually retained.
The format of this book is basically simultaneously outlining both the history and facts of genetics - the narrative switches freely back and forth between the two, in fact, often giving a mini-biography of a scientist who made a discovery before going on to explain the basic prinicples of that discovery and its implications. This format works, for the most part, as it keeps one from having slog through large sections of technical explanations, but it can get a bit distracting, at some points, too. It might have helped if the authors had stuck to a chronological exposition of the study of genetics rather than jumping back and forth through the last century willy-nilly.
As for the scientific content, I did learn a lot of interesting factoids - enough for a base understanding of the subject - but I often found myself wishing for more diagrams or further explanations/examples of some elements. This book is more about the STUDY of genetics than explaining how things work, though, so I suppose this is excusable.
I found this book interesting as a beginner's text, and I DID learn a lot. It would probably be quite useful for high school-aged students as an introduction to the study of genetics.
P.s., Commissions are still currently open!
current mood: chipper
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(comment on this)
twapa
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8:26a
I have come to a conclusion.
As for the PS2:
I'm going to save up and buy a new one.
I know, I know. $130 is a LOT of money to spend on something stupid like that. But I decided that $80 was a LOT of money to spend on something that could potentially break down in a few months or whatever. I might as well just cough up the $$$ for a new one. : \
... In order to procure this money, however, I am going to need more commissions.
current mood:  blah
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(3 comments | comment on this)
twapa
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7:38a
Writer's Block: God For a Day
1. Smite Al Gore in the most spectacular manner possible.
2. Bring back the Carolina Parakeet (Great Auks, Passenger Pigeons, and Labrador Ducks can come, too!). In fact, why not bring back all the species humanity has prematurely wiped out in the past few centuries. Hi Australia, you can has Thylacine! New Zealand, we're giving you back your Moas and giant eagles - try not to eat them all this time, OKAY GUYS? Hawaii, try not to use up all your birds making headdresses, now. And South America... yeeeah. I'll give you back your big blue macaws but you gotta promise not to capture them all and sell them to the Europeans and Arabs, alright? Yeah.
3. Wipe Israel's enemies off the map. It'll save them the trouble of having to do it themselves and there will be a lot less hatred and suicide bombings in the world. Oh, and I don't just mean the radical Muslims, here - The US will undoubtedly see an alarming rise in cases of spontaneous combustion on its college campuses and whatnot. On the bright side: No more KKK!
... See, there's probably a very good reason why God doesn't let other people do God's job. 2 out of my big three involve epic smiting and the other involves toying with the laws of nature.
Oh come on, guys. I would never. : p
But it doesn't mean a girl can't dream... >_>
current mood: amused
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(1 comment | comment on this) Tuesday, August 5th, 2008
milesba
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11:53p
How about Chuck Norris with a BB gun?
I saw Get Smart a bit earlier today and while I don't speak for anyone else, it turned out better than I expected. I really liked it. I think they did a good job with incorporating the old story of Control into the new storyline. They also picked new characters that really had the look of the originals. Steve Carell can pass fairly closely with that Don Adams look. The only thing I think would have really made the movie better would have been to have Steve play more of a straight man. Maxwell does have a sense of humor, but he plays the roll off better as a straight man. Steve was almost borderline too much for that role. Yet, I still thought he did ok.
I'm not sure what to say without giving too much away. They had a lot of classic Get Smart moments. And a scene that reminds me of wanting to punch AJ in the face.
Maxwell Smart: [to Agent 99] Is that your default setting or something? Oh, today's Tuesday, I'll punch Max. Oh look, a box of kittens, I think I'll punch Max. I have this piece of bread so now I'm going to punch Max.
Maxwell Smart: I think it's only fair to warn you, this facility is surrounded by a highly trained team of 130 black op snipers.
Siegfried: I don't believe you.
Maxwell Smart: Would you believe 2 dozen Delta Force commandos?
Siegfried: No.
Maxwell Smart: How about Chuck Norris with a BB gun?
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(1 comment | comment on this)
captainspam
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11:35p
When your laptop is the fastest system you own, you want change
Hot on the heels of my finally-entering-the-modern-era laptop, plans are already underway to do a similar job with my desktop machine. Not another Mac, mind. This will be another classic hand-built CaptainSpam hack job. By which I mean largely stock parts and no amount of glowy lights or whatnot.
To that end, I think I can come up with a pretty decent machine for about $800 ($750 before shipping). 3.0GHz Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM, a GeForce 8800, and a few other odds and ends along with it. I'd say not bad.
All plans appear to be in place for next week's amusement park assault to Carowinds. Apart from one member of the trip we'd love to have along. One vacation day later, I should be ready to go. So long as I can figure out how to request a vacation day.
Now, let's see if I can't get more comics drawn. And more code written. And, time permitting, some sleep.
current mood:  curious
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(comment on this) Monday, August 4th, 2008
(comment on this) Sunday, August 3rd, 2008
springkitty
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8:07a
Dear Dad,
You said you sent me an email, but I haven't received an email from you since June. I hope you are still getting the emails I send you?
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(1 comment | comment on this) Saturday, August 2nd, 2008
captainspam
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9:28p
Casting your pod to Degrassi Knoll
The iTunes Music Store, as could be expected, has a section devoted to podcasts. Pretty cut-and-dry, honestly. You subscribe, it shows up in your iTunes Podcasts list thingamajig, and life goes on. Plain and simple. Granted, it's hard to make a iTMS music store link work with, say, Amarok, but most people are kind enough to provide the actual feed links as need be.
My first assumption about the podcasts in the iTMS were that they were derived from some list of Apple-approved* or RIAA-approved sources. As in, you'd never find a highly subculture-specific podcast in their lists and would have to go via a manual link to get it in. That was until I looked through and found someone has a podcast version of 120 Minutes With Jick & Skully (the bi-weekly Kingdom of Loathing user-submission Q&A session with the creators of the game) in the iTMS. A podcast which has ultimately no use outside of players of KoL (in some cases, you'd also have to be online and in chat at the time to make sense of it), which frequently digresses into nonsense, is oftentimes explicit and crude, and, depending on what the podcast draws from, features music breaks which are most likely not at all paid for.
Huh. That's impressive.
*: Okay, I suppose Apple DOES have to approve all of them, but I mean popular and trendy enough for Apple to notice.
current mood:  surprised
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(comment on this) Friday, August 1st, 2008
wakeman
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3:29p
24th Birthday
Thank you to everyone who sent me birthday greetings. I am always overwhelmed by everyone’s love.
On Wednesday night, Kristina worked in the kitchen for over 3 hours, so I knew she had something up her sleeve. When I woke up yesterday morning, Kristina had a plate of homemade blueberry muffins on the table—probably the best muffins I’ve ever had. She also made crepes with homemade blueberry filling—also the best crepes I’ve ever had. :-) (The crepes relate to my birthday last year, when I had mono. Kristina had me on a no-sugar diet at the time, and crepes were my birthday dessert.) The gift in the photo is Steven Curtis Chapman’s latest CD, This Moment. I love his thought-provoking and inspiring music, as well as his ministry, as he is a leader in promoting adoption.
I joke that Kristina’s spiritual gift is cooking, since she truly is a culinary master, and God uses her skills to bless many people. Of course, I am blessed most of all. For my birthday dinner, I requested one of my favorite meals: dal (an Indian lentil dish). She went the extra mile and also baked homemade naan (Indian flatbread). We had cake and ice-cream for dessert. Kristina made me feel very loved, and I can’t say enough what a blessing it is to have her in my life.
Since I always want to encourage Kristina’s God-given talent in cooking, I supported her in purchasing a 7 cu. ft. chest freezer, which we also received yesterday. The freezer in our refrigerator is very small, and Kristina used to fill up an entire upright freezer when she was single. She would do all of her cooking on Saturday and just pull out meals from the freezer all week. The freezer will both save her time and money, since she will be able to buy large quantities of meat and produce when they are on sale.
I received nice cards and gifts from family and friends, but David surprised me with my best gift outside of Kristina’s delicacies—a new Dell Inspiron 1525. My old Dell laptop was over five years old and was really showing its age. I am astounded how much laptops have improved in five years. The widescreen is so crisp and beautiful, and this is a major upgrade in power and performance. I upgraded from 0.3GB RAM to 3GB, and 40GB hard drive to 250. I am extremely grateful, since I do everything on the computer (including my quiet times), and the old one was “the slowest computer I’ve ever seen” (in Kristina’s words :)
Most of all, I thank God for the new year of life He has given. Every day is a gift from Him.
On a side note, I would appreciate prayer for my mom, who has been suffering from double-vision lately. So far diabetes and a brain tumor have been ruled out as causes. Her eyes are healthy – she can see fine with one eye closed, but not with both open. It appears to be a neurological problem, but the doctors don’t know the actual cause. Thank you for praying.
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(comment on this)
twapa
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9:40a
U! stories on DA
I'm posting the stories collected here over on DeviantArt, with special new artwork and everything. Only the first one is up, right now, but the second and third shall soon follow.
So if you're one of those who didn't read the stories because they were .rtf format only, now they'll be available in "glorious" HTML format for your online reading pleasure.
I suppose since I've converted them I could also post them here on LJ, huh. The question is: Would anybody read it?
Oh well, enjoy!
current mood:  accomplished
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(3 comments | comment on this)
twapa
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8:01a
Just thought it worth noting...
Gas was $3.74 here yesterday when we drove by the gas station. 0_o Last week it was $3.83 or something, and the previous week it was around $3.89.
What's going on??? 0_o
current mood:  curious
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(9 comments | comment on this)
captainspam
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2:31a
On the contrary, Manny says it's so, with confidence
I'm only posting this because I very well know there's a rather enthusiastic member of the Red Sox Nation (one running for Alabama governor of Red Sox Nation, in fact) in my friends list who has not said word one about this. Of course, revealing that the subject involves the Red Sox most likely gives away the question, but just what ARE the members of the Red Sox Nation thinking about the trade of a player who is perhaps one of the most iconic members of the team in recent years?
current mood:  bored
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