Circa '74-75... I was between 5 and 6.

When my dad would pack my school lunch, he'd boil hot dogs, and put them in a thermos filled with hot chicken soup, and then put buns or bread in the dry side for later eating. He packed his own lunches the same way. Oftentimes, he'd put a note and some sort of goody in there too, like a comic book digest. I think that's where I picked up my "reading at the table" habit.

I brown-bagged it a lot, but when I did have a few lunchboxes. I remember having a speed buggy (Vroom-a-zoom-zoom! Everything is more entertaining in Portuguese!) one in first grade, and it was my third-most treasured possession that I could take to school after my St. Christopher medal (which shared a chain with a lime green teardrop-shaped peace symbol charm) and Pencil box with the built-in sharpener. (That contained about 10 army men, cleverly hidden inside a Ziploc bag at the bottom.



Mine was a lot more banged-up... When I was a little kid I could be pretty rough on stuff that I perceived as "invulnerable", and that was one of the few metal Items I had, short of a Tonka truck. As far as I was concerned, that aluminum food-holder was also a wonderful steel maul, designed to be spun around on my windmilling arms. The clip on the box must've been really stout, because it only ever flew open once, sending the thermos and whatever else was left over in there into the stratosphere, arcing nicely overhead and landing across the street, in the bushes. On reflection, the first time I ever jaywalked may've been to retrieve it. Since I was in Brockton, (near Holbrook) at the time, St. Christopher must've been keeping an eye on me after all.



Recalling that old Tonka Toy... it was originally the bright Tonka Yellow, but as time went by, it got a little rusty and sharp. Rather than let his kid play with a little tetanus trap like that, the old man sanded off the rust, sealed it, and spray-painted it with the colors he had in the garage. Since there was no canary yellow, he went with a reflective orange, which I thought was just awesome as a kid. (Later, He'd give it another treatment with silver, which wasn't as cool, but I liked it at the time.) That truck was a part of my toy box until I was at least 10 or 11. It was more than a dirt-dumper... it also served as a troop-superhero carrier, and a "hot wheels" caddy. It wasn't my all-time favorite vehicle, but it was certainly the most durable and in my top 5. If the Hulk or Spider-man toys were going to get run over by a large vehicle, that's was the one to call. It also showed up to any "flaming building" scenarios, despite having no hose, a good fist on the back could lob pinecones or dirt at any offending fires.

Something not readily visible is the fact that the driver's compartment was walled in with clear plastic. It was probably an hour before I'd popped out one of the windows, so an army man or other-sized toy could be allowed to drive.

I think that truck ended up with my cousin Russell (the one who was married recently) with a load of our old toys when Uncle Bob and Val moved into the place they had in Hypoluxo. It wouldn't surprise me if there was some kid in Florida still playing with that truck, fifth-hand, maybe painted olive green, or recolored to its original Tonka hue.

8/11/03

Wow... lots and lots of rain lately. It works as a super sedative. I think the scent of ozone / fresh rains are one of the most powerful sedatives known to man. The sound of storms brings me comfort.

Dan's back at school. This next month is going to be busy for him! I don't imagine that I'll see him face to face until mid-September.

Chris Walken was on the Denis Leary roast last night (which, if it's like the other roasts, will be shown non-stop for the next month), and boy is he ancient! Holy cow! He looks like Methuselah's Uncle Louis. He's still cool and creepy, though.

Windbear and Oceanbird are Mandark's parents.

I'd like to see the Flash TV series back on the air for a bit... I'd like to see some episodes again.

I don't use the term "muttonhead" enough to describe people that could be described as muttonheads.

The LJ Haiku link doesn't work for me. The more freeform poetry still does, though.

A cool Lego-adventure game.

Four has great significance in voodoo. Papa Doc Duvalier surrounded himself with fours. The license plate of his official limo was 4444. Much of voodoo involves "crossing" to either defend or attack. An X will be formed of nails in the left boot heel to protect the wearer from evil by "crossing" the entryway. Crossing two nails hammered into doorway protected houses. Four points are needed for a cross or X. Root doctors protect a room by placing magical items at the four corners of a room, then placing the completing items at the point in the room where imaginary lines from the four corners intersect. This is why crossroads are places of power. Afro-Caribbean magic often requires symbolic offerings to the four cardinal points.

I'd like a flash mob to show up and clean my apartment.

A few weeks ago for dessert at the Thai food place I split a dish of lychee with Danny... it was chilled and in a light syrup. I've recently discovered a tree by my local mailbox bears the same fruit, and is heavy and ripe. I'm wondering how safe it would be to pick a few and eat them directly. I had no idea those things were even edible, though I've seen them here and there over the last ten years or so. They're sort of like grapes, with a more pineapple texture.

Self-defence with a Walking-stick: The Different Methods of Defending Oneself with a Walking-Stick or Umbrella when Attacked under Unequal Conditions, A charmingly formal self-defense manual from the early 1900s.

Psychiatry for disturbed toys. The little alligator is my favorite. I want to take care of him.

What do you get when you combine the distinctive riffs of Deep Purple's Ritchie Blackmore with Renaissance music? You Get Blackmore's Night.

1 year ago spiders on drugs, Uzumaki, me and newt's custom HC dials, goodies for Kev's sis, bear teeth, a moment of Zen

2 years ago utility kilt, uncle bill, intrepid

3 years ago - first online radio(broken), food out with Danny, made the "decaf espresso=kissing your sister" joke, Hollow man

Ugh.. had to reset and adjust my video files. for some reason my multi-monitor support got corrupted. Rather than live my life with half the screen real estate that I'm used to, I was obliged to fix it. Pretty straightforward, but it took about 45min to an hour all told.

Man, ATI puts itself *everywhere*. I'm always a little squeamish about rooting around the registry, but it's all good as long as there's a backup handy.

Note to everyone using windows -*ALWAYS* back up your registry before changing it. Actually, that's a good rule of thumb for anything major. If you don't backup, you're asking for trouble, bub.

Pleasant side effect, I can watch full-screen movies with no frame dropping.

There were 5 guys sitting in the front courtyard, drinking and talking overly loud. I don't have many triggers, but getting in my territory and disturbing the peace in my home is surely one.

They'd been sitting and talking and drinking and getting progressively louder since about 5pm. Four and a half hours later, I didn't see any signs of it winding down, so I stuck my nose out and asked politely if they could keep it down, because I couldn't hear the TV over them, and they very kindly accommodated me.

Score one for the friendly method. (My next step would've been to ask one more time, and then call the cops.)

8/10/03

Bright eyed and bushy-tailed this morning. got pleasantly surprised by a little howdy form oneyed, sedefend and assorted family extras on cam this morning. I now have pictures of mom giving daughter noogies and groucho glasses, not to mention a pic of newt broadcast to Saudi Arabia and back. Newt's officially an international video star!

I've been wondering about language this morning... what do folks do when there "isn't a word for that" in their native language? What would folks living in the Amazon jungle call a sandstorm? Would they use a foreign word (like English speakers generally do) or do they make up a whole new word in the native tongue? I suppose it depends, and isn't terribly important, given that most folks don't deal with non-local issues that often.

A piccie of me aboard ship, ported at Alpha.. I dig the mermaid on the bow :) I left in the control panel and overmap to give a sense of what the menu system is like. I'm better at sailing now, but the cannons are still pretty tough. I picked up enough pieces of eight to dress less like a newbie.. red bandanna, green shirt and orange sash... I prefer going barefoot, so that's fine. Being a member of a crew makes it quite a bit more entertaining. I've been thinking of building a Weavers or apocathary on Oyster Island, too.



Via the vampires game - Peacekeepers Mission on Emerald and 67th - Welcome, friend, to Peacekeepers Mission 1. For 10000 coins you can increase your Neutrality. Be aware! If you have any Neutrality, you cannot use Holy Water, and your Scrolls of Turning will do no damage. At the lower levels of Neutrality, you will still be partially vulnerable to such attacks. Sadly, I had less than 2000, so I must continue to seek and suck. so, I did the next best thing, which was to use a scroll of turning in there, and sent about bunch of vampires a-running.

A Canadian company has successfully mimicked nature and produced spider silk, a coveted substance five times stronger - weight for weight - than steel.

KINGS OF AFRICA - Photographs by Daniel LAINÉ It took Daniel Laine, three years 1988 - 1991) of effort and intense diplomatic steps to realize this fantastic work. During this period, he was able to photograph 70 sovereigns, descendants of the great African dynasties.

Difference between airbrush and natural bikini model mouse over to see what they looked like before. The whole portfolio is nifty to look at.

one year ago man killed for playing the banjo, Trek happening a dud, but we discover heroclix, (already thinking customs), rorsach poll

two years ago 3 things poll, deracinate, cormorant, broken newt pic, 25 things to keep in mind, ja da, rate your risk (links now broken)


three years ago spent out, color quiz, looking forward to going to breakfast, Rowlf sings, Beaker sings

So far, I've gotten 3.5 (one person filled out half the questions) responses on my Blunt truth "What do you really think of me?" Quiz.

Some spiffy Mehndi designs (I went seeking after seeing 's post.)

Lazy, lazy day. I worked on MySQL/php code this morning, but with the thunder outside, along with an orange kitty made a point of me having to take a nap. There's little better to do in the middle of a Saturday than kicking back for an hour with a little snooze, curled up under the covers with a snuggly little furball. He's been a real sweetheart lately, playful and very affectionate.

Puzzle Pirates update - Scottobear Puts into port on Winter Solstice in the Diamond Archipelago is now a member of the Crew of the Burlap Lemurs, aboard the Critical Grunion

I'm a fair sailor, good swordsman and carpenter, and excellent at the bilge pump. Not learned navigation yet. The trade aspect is interesting, but still not really touched upon.

For late lunch/early din din I'm having some veggie-burgers on toast with a side of bbq beans and sipping iced earl gray tea.

8/9/03

Water which is too pure has no fish.
-Ts'ai Ken T'an

I had a dream that there were bats in the closet of my old Boca apartment... An exterminator brought a trained monkey to run through the house with a net to collect them for release into the wild. Well, as we are standing there looking at the closet door covered with bats we hear something odd behind us. I turn around slowly to see a monkey with red eyes and long vampire fangs standing behind us. A vampire monkey, in full glory. The exterminator ran away but I just stood out front, holding Newt and watched as the monkey went after his former master. I went back inside, and was very confident that the bats were gone.

Here are some differences in the PHP/MySQL installation on UNIX vs. PHP/MySQL on windows:

1. Mysql passwords: On Win2k you can't just say 'localhost' you have to explicitly state the ip address of the server

2. Include_path() they are written very differently. On Win2k you have to explicitly state the drive that you want to look for the include paths on, or else it will look in the drive where PHP is installed

3. On Win2k you have to explicitly declare variables (I think...it's a good idea, anyway.)

Newest Google trick... Become a Google voyeur, a neat little programming trick that looks for online images still bearing the filename automatically generated by the digital camera that took them. and here I was, naming my images something that would make it easy to know what they were!

Thanks to (introduced me to it) and (reminded me that I'd created an account) , I've been fiddling a little with Puzzle Pirates much of this morning. I'm already really good at running a bilge and carpentry (glorified bejeweled and tetris, with some clever changes), but my sword fighting skill is in need of some polish. It's still in beta, but that's part of what makes it fun! (Also, something to do when There is down... which is losing some of its shine with all the lag, and tech troubles lately... they let too many people in this last go-round, I think) If you do decide to play, look for user Scottobear, based out of Winter Solstice, working at the Cloth of Clothos, or aboard the Unique Grunion ... or Newtie on Guava Island. (When not aboard the Electric Eel) you can't go far wrong with Lego-looking pirates, chat, and puzzle games. Plus, my Scottobear avatar looks a lot like me (albeit in Lego-format) It's in need of some sounds, being mysteriously silent… but that's nothing a little background music here can't fix. Something I think would be fun to play with my sweetie, and maybe even a bigger group of pals.

"It tastes like a cross between vodka and chewing tobacco," said Fort Lauderdale resident Jonathan Cook after trying his first nicotini. "That's not necessarily a bad thing." Spoken like a man who's been on the business end of the impromptu beer bottle spittoon more than once. The Cathode Ray is a gay bar just up the street from here.... I'll refrain from making the blatant "cocktail" joke, and just say that it sounds like a disgusting drink. I'd think that a patch or nicotine gum would be a more appropriate alternative to sucking on a ragged, booze-soaked tobacco leaf. I'd much prefer a tropical froufrou drink.


Kama Sutra guide to safe sex

The government in India's West Bengal State is supporting a programme that offers prostitutes an ancient solution to modern concerns about safe sex.

"Kama Sutra has many postures that can give men the highest pleasure without consummation and that is what the prostitutes are being taught.

"They are learning something very useful," says Rajyashree Choudhuri, chief of the Institute of International Social Development (IISD), who designed the project.

Until now, thousands of Calcutta's sex-workers have tried to force customers to use condoms.

Their powerful organisation, Durbar Mahila Samannoy Samity, has decreed that all their members perform safe sex and customers trying to force sex-workers to have intercourse without condoms are thrown out of brothels.

Three hour session

But what happens if a customer refuses to use condoms?

The prostitutes lose business, which they can ill afford.

That is a situation the IISD is teaching them to avoid.

In a conference hall in the posh southern locality of Gariahat, the IISD is running its "safe sex" workshop, with backing from the West Bengal Aids Control Society.

Sex-workers from the city's major red light districts are joining up in droves.

"We will back any programme on safe sex. The number of HIV patients in West Bengal is increasing and we want to control it at any cost," says Sachinanda Sarkar, assistant director of the Aids Control Society.

Last year, 1,137 HIV cases were reported in the state. More than 600 cases have been reported this year.

Dozens of prostitutes turn up for the workshop and are taken through the voluminous Kama Sutra, India's most famous ancient treatise on sex.

The training lasts for two to three hours.

"They are specifically taught foreplay and other poses that will give men a high degree of pleasure," said Rajyashree Choudhury.

"We teach the girls the art of ensuring a premature but very satisfying discharge by tactfully avoiding intercourse. The Kama Sutra is a treasure house for all that."

A large percentage of HIV/Aids patients in India acquire the virus through unprotected sex.



You have an entrancing kiss~ the kind that leaves
your partner bedazzled and maybe even feeling
he/she is dreaming. Quite effective; the kiss
that never lessens and always blows your
partner away like the first time.


What kind of kiss are you?
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Your Heart is Red


EARTH is your Chinese symbol!


What Chinese Symbol Are You? -- Updated (7/21/03)
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Your: Happy eyes! You're cheerful, bright and always
want to try something new. Your inquisitive and
quite lovable. You have many friends and will
succeed in life.


What type of eyes do you have?
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What Is Your Animal Personality?
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What Finding Nemo Character are You?
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YOU ARE MARRIED TO A WoODCHUCK!!!


what's YOUR deepest secret?
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a year ago - istockphoto, emergency day at work early-arrive (I wonder what'd happen if Sappho and Kev were out at the same time, now?), escape form alcatraz w/bro, misc meter quizzes, looking for cave/sea piccies

2 years ago - scud, agon, evil news, Wally out of the loop (he's still awaiting trial for some of his crimes), Thai din din, colon contents, just finding out about bubba-Ho tep

3 years ago - geophagy

8/8/03
This morning arrived in a timely way, in the morning-time. I've gotten some very useful information on the project I've been dealing with lately, and I feel a lot better about letting it roll ahead.

DC pulled the retro-Teen Titans comic off the schedule, which means we'll never see these pages in print: "Teen Titans...Go(ne)!"

Well, poop. As a long-time Jay Stephens fan, I was looking forward to that.

Antidepressants Grow New Brain Cells
Antidepressants Grow New Brain Cells - U.S. Study

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Antidepressants may help stimulate the growth of new brain cells, U.S.-based scientists said on Thursday in releasing research that may lead to the development of better drugs to fight depression.

Research on rats shows that two different classes of antidepressants can help brain cells regenerate -- and not in areas normally thought of as being involved in depression.

"This is an important new insight into how antidepressants work," Dr. Thomas Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health, said in a statement.

The study fits in with others that suggest depression can shrink the hippocampus, a brain region crucial to learning and memory but only recently found to be involved in depression. Major stress and trauma -- both depression triggers -- can also cause the shrinkage.

"We have known that antidepressants influence the birth of neurons in the hippocampus. Now it appears that this effect may be important for the clinical response," Insel said.

New antidepressants may be developed to target this process directly, said Rene Hen of Columbia University in New York, who led the study.

"The proof in humans is going to come when we extend the work into finding drugs that stimulate neurogenesis. If these drugs have antidepressant effects in humans, this is going to be proof that the process is critical in humans," Hen said in a telephone interview.

"There is a push already in the pharmaceutical industry to find such compounds."

The new study may also help explain why it can take weeks for antidepressants to give patients relief.

"If antidepressants work by stimulating the production of new neurons, there's a built-in delay," said Hen. The stem cells that give rise to new cells need time to divide, to differentiate into neurons, move to their new homes and link up with other neurons.

To make sure that the new brain cells in the hippocampus was the source of the lifted depression, Hen and colleagues at Yale University and in France worked with genetically engineered mice, using X-rays to kill newly growing cells in the hippocampus.

These mice did not respond as they normally would to antidepressants. Mice which were given fluoxetine, an antidepressant sold under the brand-name Prozac by Eli Lilly and Co., and were then given X-rays did not resume grooming as would be expected.

Mice who received no X-rays and were killed after being dosed for 11 or 28 days with fluoxetine showed significant growth of new brain cells.

A drug in a different class, the tricyclic imipramine, also stimulated the growth of neurons, Hen's team reported in Friday's issue of the journal Science.

"Besides finding drugs that target this process, the other basic research challenge for me is to find out what the function of these new neurons is," Hen said.

Experts say that 16 percent of Americans -- more than 30 million people -- will suffer major depression at some point in their lives.

The NIMH says major depression is now the No. 1 leading cause of disability around the world.

Google News Alerts -

Google News Alerts are sent by email when news articles appear online that match the topics you specify.

Some handy uses of Google News Alerts include:

• monitoring a developing news story


• keeping current on a competitor or industry


• getting the latest on a celebrity or event


• keeping tabs on your favorite sports teams

Or in My case, keywords like Cannibal, Illuminati, coprolite, adipocere, Toho Studios and Monkeys. (not necessarily inclusive.. but wouldn't it be great if it was?) I had to change it from "as it happens" to "daily" because there are a *lot* of stories with the word monkey in them!

The Sacred Narghile - Call it what you will, shisha, hookah, narghile... If I was to smoke, that'd be the way I'd do it. The link is probably the most informative resource I've ever seen about them, especially the social elements.

Steve Burns album Songs for Dust Mites released 8/12/2003 It's a cute website, and the music isn't too bad either.

a year ago - ZIM!, fun fact, fumbuckery, added newt pic to bio, after he shocked me, site reboot that didn't come to fruition.

2 years ago - some Negative thoughts about gamers, including a dragon-con flashback (that caused some upset in the role-players community), who in a crowd?, Upside-down, RPG poll, caterwaul, Name Generator, dinos in your region, Wally Caught stealing, begins the end of the WDB era at IMT.

3 years ago - grumpy, in general and regarding TV.

Oneeyed reminded me that my latest way to make Danny laugh is to say "What up, My crakuh? Dizz-anny! Fo' Shizzle!" in a Thurston Howell accent.

Great lines from old B-52s songs:

Before I talk, I should read a book. - Mesopotamia

That's often a great rule of thumb.

If you're lucky you get to ride in a gold meteorite
If you're not, you get a mouth, a mouthful of red Kryptonite -There's a Moon in The Sky

Red Kryptonite, in my comic-reading experience, is usually entertaining at least. The effects are nonfatal, generally cosmetic, and who wouldn't want to be transformed into a having a giant ant head /gorilla /set of twins or grow wings for a day or two?

8/7/03

Random story recently read - a novella called "The Zombies of Madison County," by Douglas E. Winter, inside The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror: Volume Nine, ed by Stephen Jones. It's a really nifty, gruesome story and zombie fans *HAVE* to know it. Take Bridges of Madison County, and add shambling undead.

Loopy amount of rains started last night at 8pm or so, until well in the evening. I had a delightful night, and had nice dreams, to boot. My waking mood was nothing short of cheerful. Had a grand breakfast of raspberry toaster strudel and Newt nuzzles, and happy gabbies.

Classic Plastic Army Men, complete with battle tactics. I still wish I could find the Star Trek ones again. Speaking of the things that come up when you search for army men....Worst "action figure set" I've seen yet. Not safe for work, unless they don't mind seeing a pudding girl eaten with a spoon shaped like a hand with a phallic handle.

A bus surveillance video of the bus driver who maced herself and then told her boss she was attacked, all so she could get a day off from work. Why do people go to these extremes? Why doesn't calling up your boss and faking a cough work? I am glad that there are hidden cameras on busses, though. A good application of tech for safety.

Best spam ever - From jal@spiegel.de -

Hello,

I'm a time traveler stuck here in 2003. Upon arriving here my dimensional warp generator stopped working. I trusted a company here by the name of LLC Lasers to repair my Generation 3 52 4350A watch unit, and they fled on me. I am going to need a new DWG unit, preferably the rechargeable AMD wrist watch model with the GRC79 induction motor, four I80200 warp stabilizers, 512GB of SRAM and the menu driven GUI with front panel XID display.

I will take whatever model you have in stock, as long as its received certification for being safe on carbon based life forms.

In terms of payment:
I dont have any Galactic Credits left. Payment can be made in platinum gold or 2003 currency upon safe delivery of unit.

INSTRUCTIONS MUST BE FOLLOWED EXACTLY:
Please transport unit in either a brown paper bag or box to below coordinates on Thursday August 7th at (exactly 4:00pm) Eastern Standard Time on the dot. A few minutes prior will be ok, but it cannot be after. If you miss this timeframe please email me. I will not be there prior to 4:45pm EST, so do not transport before then.

Item is to be delivered at (out of service basketball court) located at: Latitude N 42.47935 & Longitude W 071.17355 and the Elevation is 119 feet.
WARNING: DO NOT ATTEMPT TO TRANSPORT ITEM BY REGULAR MEANS OF TELEPORTATION. THEY ARE MONITORING AND WILL REDIRECT THE SIGNAL!! I DO NOT CARE HOW YOU HAVE TO GET IT HERE, JUST DO IT IN A WAY THAT NO SPYING EYES WILL POSSIBLY BE ABLE TO REDIRECT THE TRANSFERENCE. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT YOU BE ABLE TO MONITOR THE TRANSFER. HOW ARE YOU GOING TO SEND IT SO THAT THEY CANNOT REDIRECT IT??? If in doubt do not transport actual unit until your method of transfer can be confirmed as a success. You just might need to send a intergalactic courier to deliver item safely to me. If so be VERY careful at how they approach me IN MY WHITE CAR.

After unit has been delivered please email me at: info@federalfundingprogram.com
with payment instructions. Do not reply directly back to this email.

Thank You

quartermaster

Well, Criminy!! Regarding Vampires Peacekeepers mission 3 - Welcome, friend, to Peacekeepers Mission 3. Very sorry, but we can't do anything for you - you need one of our more advanced missions. Ramma-frazzin.... ah well, at least I have another fresh vampire baby, IRA.

It seems to be an epidemic -

blackbird says, "anyone want to give me coins and why does it say i need a more advanced mission???"
SwEeTDReaMS reads a Scroll of Turning near you! You stumble around groggily.
Dragolis says "where is your advanced mission??"

Not to mention that I was out in the open, and got bitten 26 times! Bah!

Now For The First Time Ever You Can Have A Real Celebrity Call You Or A Friend For Just $19.95. They Can Also Deliver A Brief Customized Message Written By You For $29.95. Whether It's For A Special Occasion Or Just For The Fun It, There's No Better Way To Impress A Client, A Sweetheart Or A Friend Than To Have A Celebrity Call. So Place Your Order Today. ] Get C-list (and D-list) celebs to make personalized messages for you. I especially like the "Caps Every Letter In The Blurb" writing. I'm tempted to have Peter Jurasik leave a wise-ass Londo message on Kev's voicemail.

Okie.. enough goofing off... time for the afternoon stretches and scaldo-shower.

a year ago - Earth and Beyond Playtest, Kev & Bailey, fat parrots, french fry girl

2 years ago - harried, inculpate, plane lands just down the road on andrews as a makeshift runway and kits my regular bus, wondering about lj's image server (still not ready!), happy thoughts, magic can of soda

3 years ago - grumping, Space cowboys shows old man butts.

8/6/03
Ok, Danny's running late, so I've been fiddling with the website some more...He should be here between 1 and 1:30.

Added Hero Machine to the Toybox. (though I have it saved locally to fiddle with whenever)

Some things that make me smile. Daler Mehndi - Tunak Tunak Tun(music video-Real audio), Newt, and thoughts of my sweetie.

More about Daler Mehndi.

Grabbing the meme - What do you really think of me?

Went to Lunch with Danny by the ocean... I had a Rumrunner the size of a small aquarium and some spaghetti with freschetta. The freschetta was especially tasty and garlic-y, and we got to soak up the atmosphere of all the "beautiful people" walking by. After hanging out there for about 2 hours, we relocated to the bookstore for another hour for coffee and a cool-down. Iced Mocha-drink was a tasty dessert. Dinner tonight will be light, if it happens at all.

Got my Phone and electric bill today... phew. I've been running the ol' A/C pretty heavily, and it shows. Kindly of them, I got my deposit back this month, so I saved $75... instead, I only had to pay a little over $9. I really dig paying all of my bills online. Perhaps one day when I own my home, I'll never have to write a check again. I also got wedding pix from Russ and his new bride, Michele. It's so weird... I remember teaching him how to play battletech when he was 8 like it was yesterday.... and now he's well into Med School and Married. I wish 'em both the best and lots of happiness. They're a good-looking pair, and certainly a brainy bunch, too. I hope they wait on baby making until after he's done with school. (She's going to be a vet, too.) I really need to call Val and Bob up to say howdy... it's been far too long.

Newt was all about sniffing me over when I got home... taking in all the scents that I picked up out and about (plus, he's a fool for garlic)

8/6/03
Comfortable and quiet morning... Newt's been more talkative the last day or three. After a gray, wet start, there's a rainbow outside now.

YOU ARE CATNIP


What herb are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Conan Returns, to Dark Horse, this time. See a pic of him fighting a monster gorilla

Still not sure what's on the agenda for going out with Dan. I'm guessing it'll be lunch and/or a movie. I'm in more of a people-watching mood today, but we'll see where it goes. I know he's sore from his recent cuts (they took five bits on Monday, so he may not want to sit outside of A/C.) He's heading over to FAU for some forms. I'd think they could fax them to him...but I guess the admin folks are slacking. He seems a bit moody this morning. Hopefully I'll be able to help lift his mood.

Successfully transmitted the largest file I've ever sent over an IM (1.4 gig at 25k/sec) (considering that I'm connected at about 1.4 Mb/sec, it doesn't seem to be hindering my surfing at all.) All six episodes of Neverwhere. It took a dog's age... about 15 hours, give or take. Well, ok, maybe not a dog's age. but it took a very-short-lived organism's age.

Ok, time to get moving and ready for the day... I've puttered enough for now. Until later, dear journal.

8/6/03
first best friend: Diane Horton, who was my best buddy in first grade.
first real memory of something: Going to the Zoo with The Mother, Vera, and Michelle (late 1972, early 73?) We saw Monkeys and Bears, two of my favorite things. They seemed happy.
first boyfriend/girlfriend: Lisa Byrd, 6th grade. She was very cool.
first break-up: Lisa Byrd (That'd sort of follow, wouldn't it?)
first job: Babysitting for neighbor kids, $2 an hour (first paycheck job - Taco Viva, Boynton Beach Mall)
first self purchased album: ELO's Time
first concert: John Kay and Steppenwolf ( I think)
first funeral: Great Grandmother on Mother's side (that I remember)
first pet: Lilah (a little laso-upso mop dog)
first presidential candidate you voted for: Bush Sr.
first piercing/tattoo: n/a
first house/apartment: On my own? A studio behind Mizner Park in Boca
first love: What sort of love? Eros - Babysitter's Friend Pittah. Philia/Brotherly love- Diane, above, Agape- Azru
first enemy: Fred Sylvester, a creepy son of a preacher who lived down the road.

last good cry: three weeks ago
last movie seen: Charlie's Angels 2
last cuss word uttered: dumbass
last beverage drunk: Water
last food consumed: a muffin/scrambles/patty with Ketchup
last phone call: Danny, making plans to get together today
last TV show watched: Barney Miller playing in background
last shoes worn: Black Sneakers
last annoyance: Frankie looking to use the phone (last night)
last disappointment: Bro not making the right choices regarding his settlement
last soda drank: Diet Barq's Cream Soda about a week ago
last words spoken: Okie, talk to you later. Bye!
last sleep: My bed, about 3 hours ago
last ice cream eaten: Fudge Royale (well, tofutti... yum!)
last time amused: Just now, singing to myself
last time in love: Right now
last lipstick used: hmmm...green/black as part of a Zombie outfit. 1992?
last underwear worn: Superman Boxers
last bra worn: n/a
last shirt worn: Blue and white "prison stripes" knit jersey
last time dancing: Davie junction, '98
last album you listened to all the way though: Zwan - Mary Star Of The Sea
last phone number you dialed: The Bro
last really healthy thing you ate: green grapes
last thing you bought: groceries
last piece of REAL mail you got: Sweden Postcard
last time you were angry/pissed off: 6:18 pm, Thursday July 24, 2003.
last thing you got for free: Grocery Delivery (coupon)
last magazine you read: August 2003 Playboy
last thing you did before filling out this survey: read the morning news
last time you showered: This morning
last time you were embarrassed: Not sure...remembering being chastised for my nosiness by Rik, I think
last vacation you took: Disney World, May 5-7, 2000... did I go anywhere else since? I took numerous day-trips this year.

Vampire game clue - Silver Apothecary between Silver & 33rd and Sycamore and 34th. Holy water available for 2000. I've also got 2 new baby vampires, hg & D... so I'm up again to having 7 active children. (not counting grandchildren, or great-grands... I wonder if I have any beyond that?) Just passed to Peacekeepers Mission 2 (Unicorn and 33rd) and got the message - Welcome, friend, to Peacekeepers Mission 2. Very sorry, but we can't do anything for you - you need one of our more advanced missions. Well, Where are those?

Can you tell a coder from a cannibal? try to work out which of the following spent time hacking computers and which preferred hacking away at corpses instead. From the fine people that brought you the best tribute to ray harryhausen ever.

Just the good ol' boys, never meanin' no harm. Beats all you've ever saw, been in trouble with the law since the day they was born. Straight'nin' the curve, flat'nin' the hills. Someday the mountain might get 'em, but the law never will. Makin' their way, the only way they know how, that's just a little bit more than the law will allow. Just good ol' boys, wouldn't change if they could, fightin' the system like a true modern day Robin Hood. Yeeeeee-hawwwww.

Thunder, thunder, thundercats, Ho! Thundercats are on the move, Thundercats are loose. Feel the magic, hear the roar, Thundercats are loose. Thunder, thunder, thunder, Thundercats!

Hong Kong Phooey, number one super guy. Hong Kong Phooey, quicker than the human eye. He's got style, a groovy style, and a car that just won't stop. When the going gets tough, he's really rough, with a Hong Kong Phooey chop (Hi-Ya!).

Ten years ago a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn't commit. These men promptly escaped from a maximum-security stockade to the Los Angeles underground. Today, still wanted by the government, they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem and no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire the A-team.

I never spent much time in school but I taught ladies plenty. It's true I hire my body out for pay, hey hey. I've gotten burned over Cheryl Tiegs, blown up for Raquel Welch. But when I end up in the hay it's only hay, hey hey. I might jump an open drawbridge, or Tarzan from a vine. 'Cause I'm the unknown stuntman that makes Eastwood look so fine.

Knight Rider, a shadowy fight into the dangerous world of a man who does not exist. Michael Knight, a young loner on a crusade to champion the cause of the innocent, the helpless in a world of criminals who operate above the law.

Top Cat! He's the boss, he's a pip, he's the championship. He's the most tiptop, Top Cat.

Hey there where ya goin', not exactly knowin', who says you have to call just one place home. He's goin' everywhere, B.J. McKay and his best friend Bear. He just keeps on movin', ladies keep improvin', every day is better than the last. New dreams and better scenes, and best of all I don't pay property tax. Rollin' down to Dallas, who's providin' my palace, off to New Orleans or who knows where. Places new and ladies, too, I'm B.J. McKay and this is my best friend Bear.

This is my boss, Jonathan Hart, a self-made millionaire; he's quite a guy. This is Mrs H., she's gorgeous, she's one lady who knows how to take care of herself. By the way, my name is Max. I take care of both of them, which ain't easy, 'cause when they met it was MURDER!

How to make perfect miniature oranges for use in modeling and design. I may well be the one person that this was written for.

Police accuse Jean Lampron of stabbing Paul Vicnaire several times, but the woman insists the deed was done by Vicnaire's dead ex-wife, who was glowing and dressed "in a beautiful white robe."

Man jailed for linking to bomb sites

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- A federal judge sentenced a man to a year in prison Monday for creating an anarchist Web site with links to sites on how to build bombs.

U.S. District Judge Stephen Wilson sentenced Sherman Austin to more than the prosecutor had recommended under a plea bargain.

Austin, 20, pleaded guilty in February to distributing information related to explosives.

Austin told the judge Monday he "wasn't really thinking" when he created the Web site. "I'd be devastated if someone used this information to harm others," he said.

Austin admitted posting links about bombs to enable people to build and use them during demonstrations against interstate and foreign trade. He told FBI agents he wanted the Web site to teach people about police brutality.

Austin must also pay a $2,000 fine and is barred for three years from using a computer without approval. Wilson said he also may not associate with anyone from a group that "espouses physical force as a means of change."

Austin was arrested with other protesters at the World Economic Forum in New York in February 2002 on charges of disorderly conduct and unlawful assembly. While in New York, federal charges were handed down in California.

Austin said he took a plea bargain because he feared his case was eligible for a terrorism enhancement, which could have added 20 years to his sentence. The plea deal had called for him to serve four months.

Was he posting the content himself, or was he just linking to it? What does that mean for Google? How about librarians for pointing me towards the bomb-making books in public libraries?

A new, nice, peaceful Orisinal game, Summer Walk. I love that designer's stuff. Fire Dragon is also new to me.

Tom Arnold is the Arby's oven mitt.

a year ago Newt Wakies, Croc bite brings beer, scotto-man, overtired, funions

2 years ago - vcr tape, gaming, militate, warren, scientific independence for researchers, Frontier Psychiatrist, evil SUV,

3 years ago - many folks join my Friendy-list (probably due to interests) , grover, graves museum

Cracked 5000 pints in the vampire game. Current rank is "Legendary" (from Count)

8/5/03
Ach, overslept this morning... I’m going to have to do that file-tranny tonight. 1.31 gigs transfer over the instant messenger. (the six episodes of neverwhere... the first one timed out at 30 meg to go. D'oh!) Isketch is a hoot, but some of the topics are *hard*. I'm glad that you're allowed to skip the impossible ones. Even the comic-book ones had some that I'd never heard of... sixth-string run-twice books from the mid-70s. It's much simpler to draw "Hulk Smash" or "The Human Torch." I'd like to get a big goon squad to play online pictionary sometime. (Though I'm terrible at mouse-art... a wacom pad would make things a lot simpler.)

The morning constitutional and shower brought me some good energy, and I'm feeling pretty good.

Today is Danny's last Day of his summer courses, so we'll be able to get together Tomorrow and hang out a bit. It' since to be able to goof off with him so much now, because when the regular school season starts up, he'll be much more restricted in his visits.

Noticed a scammy-looking letter in my Box this morning, and I did a follow-up on it. It's upsetting because I think that this would fool a lot of people that don't know better. My rule of thumb is never follow links from inside an email regarding information updates, but instead to go to the main company site, and see if there are any banners or update questions there.

The Email I received (and have forwarded to Ebay for whatever legal action they would like to take part in) was -

Dear eBay Member,

We at eBay are sorry to inform you that we are having problems with the billing information of your account. We would appreciate it if you would visit our website [eBay Billing Center] and fill out the proper information that we are needing to keep you as an eBay member.

If you think you have received this email as an error, please visit our website and fill out the necessary information. That way we can make sure that everything is up to date! Again here is the link to our website. eBay Billing Center

***Please Do Not Reply To This E-Mail As You Will Not Receive A Response***

Thank you
Accounts Management

As outlined in our User Agreement, eBay will periodically send you information about site changes and enhancements. Visit our Privacy Policy and User Agreement if you have any questions.

Copyright 2003 eBay Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Designated trademarks and brands are the property of their respective owners.
eBay and the eBay logo are trademarks of eBay Inc

Announcements | Register | SafeHarbor (Rules & Safety) | Feedback Forum | About eBay

The quantity and quality of e-mail scams that Internet users encounter continues to increase. Companies such as eBay, Amazon.com and AOL are primary targets because they have tens of millions of users that can become victims.

The most recent eBay scam sends a very official sounding message that states the following:

"eBay account management regrets to inform you that your eBay account has been suspended due to credit card verification problems. Your credit card failed to authorize and as a result, your account has been flagged. All further transactions with your account will be denied until this flag is removed."

It then attempts to get you to 'update' your account at a web site that asks for everything from your Social Security number, driver's license number, mother's maiden name, PayPal password and even your eBay password.

The quickest way to know that it is a scam is that it does not take you to eBay’s web site but rather a site that has eBay in the address, such as ebayvalidation.com or ebayupdate.com. (mine was ebayupdate.net)
Why would any company need you to provide personal information that it already has or has never asked before? The answer is, they would never ask.

No legitimate company will ever ask you to go to another web address to update account information and rarely will they use e-mail as a way to notify you of a problem.

Generally, notification of an account problem will occur when you attempt to log in to the companies web site not from a random e-mail message.

E-mail messages are not secure and can easily be viewed by others unless they are encrypted, so legitimate companies will never ask you to reply to a message with personal information.

The sophistication level of the scam artists is becoming very high as evidenced by the Discover card e-mail scam that actually used a web page from the Discover card web site to trick users into providing personal information.

In the future, a very clever way to see if an e-mail message is a scam is to use the power of a search engine such as Google. Put the first sentence of the body of the message in quotation marks in Google and see if there is any news about the message.

If you are really unsure about a message, always call the company that supposedly sent the message (and don’t use any phone numbers included in the message, just in case!). Get a customer service number from the company’s web site or from a billing statement.

eBay Help: http://pages.ebay.com/help/confidence/problems-identity-theft.html
U.S. Government ID Theft Site: http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft/victim.htm
BBB ID Theft Site: http://www.newyork.bbb.org/identitytheft/newscams.html

Earth as art. I'm not far from #13 at all.

nine shockwave games, with kitties.

a year ago - pleasant dreams, headache passes, Bailey the puppy, puppet play!

2 years ago code, up late, F/X porn, coloring book, jack-in-the-box

3 years ago house to myself, foodies

update on ebay, 6:02pm
follow-up

Hello,


Thank you for writing regarding the email you received.

The message you received was not sent by eBay nor was it endorsed by us
in any way. By altering the reply-to address for this email, this
message may appear to have come from an eBay email address, when it
actually came from an external email address. This also means that
hitting the reply to button will send the message to the altered email
address in the reply to field. This process is commonly referred to as
"Spoofing".

Please rest assured that your account standing has not changed and that
your auctions have not been affected. We are currently investigating
the source of the email. Although we are unable to provide specific
information regarding the result of our investigation, let me assure you
that eBay does take these matters seriously. We are currently working
to have the web site members are directed to removed from the internet
and predict it will be removed shortly.

Please remember that eBay will never ask you for your private
information, including credit card information or password, in an email.
Also, eBay will never send you any request or solicitation from a
non-eBay email account, or provide a link outside of eBay for entering
credit card or other private information. If you ever need to give us
information, it is suggested that you go to the main website and follow
links there to the site map or any other place you may need to give
information. That way you are certain you are giving your information
to us and not a third party.

If you entered personal information such as your password, social
security number or credit card numbers into a Web site based on a
request from a spoofed email, you need to take immediate action to
protect your identity. We have developed an eBay Help page with valuable
information regarding the steps you should take to protect yourself.

Click here to go directly to the Help page:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/confidence/problems-identity-theft.html

or, to get to the "Protecting Your Identity" Help page from the eBay
site, please follow the steps outlined below:

1. Go to the eBay site and click on the Help tab at the top of any eBay
page
2. Under the "Topics" tab, click on "Safe Trading," which will open a
list of sub categories
3. Click on, "If Something Goes Wrong"
4. Click on "Protecting Your Identity" and review the information
provided

In the future if you receive a similar email, do not respond to it, and
visit the following link:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/new/reporting_spam.html

Here you will be given the steps to take when reporting spam messages to
eBay.

You may also report future messages impersonating eBay to us by
forwarding the message to spoof@ebay.com. When using this email address
please make sure that you use the forward function of your email program
with spoof@ebay.com in the to field. Please do not alter the subject
line, add text to your message, or forward the email as an attachment.

We believe that some members are receiving these messages because they
are using or have used their email address for their user ID. We
recommend that all members have a user ID. If your user ID is currently
your email address you may change it by following the instructions
below:

* Click on the site map link located at the top of any eBay page
* Scroll through the 'Services' section
* Click on 'Change my User ID' and follow the instructions on that page

All of your account information will be linked to the new ID including
your feedback profile. Additionally, you will have a set of "shades"
next to your new ID for 30 days to alert members to the change.

More information about account security can be found at the following
address:


http://pages.ebay.com/help/account_protection.html?ssPageName=CMDV:AB000
8

We apologize for any confusion this message may have created for you and
we appreciate your efforts in helping keep eBay a safe trading place.

Regards,

Ian
eBay SafeHarbor
Investigations Team
______________________________
eBay
Your Personal Trading Community (tm)

*******************************************

Important: eBay will not ask you for sensitive personal information
(such as your password, credit card and bank account numbers, Social
Security numbers, etc.) in an email. Learn more account protection tips
at:

http://www.pages.ebay.com/help/account_protection.html
_____________________________________________

For our latest announcements, please check:

http://www2.ebay.com/aw/announce.shtml
_____________________________________________

In order to better serve you, we'd like to occasionally
request feedback on our service. If you would rather
not participate, please click on the link below and send
us an email with the word "REMOVE" in the subject line.
If that does not work, please send an email to the
email address below. Your request will be processed
within 5 days.

mailto:cssremove@ebay.com

*******************************************

8/4/03

Clay-O-Rama Rules, can be found at ftp://ftp.trawna.com/pub/rpg/games/clay-o-rama

8/4/03
Had a nice long gab with the Gray Pumpkin this afternoon about this, that and the other thing. Lots of fun chitty-chatting about an assortment of stuff, from gaming to kung fu to zombies to political stances. I'm amazed that I was the baby boy of the gaming group... he's 39, Danny's 40, Doug's got to be in his mid-late 40s. I'm only as old as the girls of that gang. Gray and I have the most similar mental frequency of the lot, still. I'm surprised how much of those gaming times I remember, and almost as shocked how much I'd forgotten.

MIT's Media Lab is a crucible of experimentation and innovation for students of media technology. Their work ranges from the amusingly baroque to the intriguingly clever. A couple of grad students there have developed the Audiopad, an interesting system for performing electronic music. Rather than explain further, let me just encourage you to go look at the video demonstration in either Quicktime (20MB) or Windows Media (11MB) formats. Then go read the project's web page. I'd hate to see what'd happen if Newt got at those control-elements.

Last night was one of the more entertaining episodes of COPS... (Very little beats the one-legged cop chasing a guy down, however.)

Essentially, a haggard-looking woman with scary wrinkles flags down the cop. She's really upset because she claims to have been robbed. After a couple of questions from the cop, the woman finally says "I just gave that woman over there $20 to buy crack cocaine, and she hasn't given me anything!” She points across the street at another lady.

She says this right to the cop. The cop is sort of flabbergasted, and makes her repeat it. "Ok. You paid that woman $20 for crack cocaine, and she took your money and didn't give you anything. And you want me to go over there and... All right. Ok. "

The cop eventually shrugs and decides to follow up on it. He walks across the street, where the other woman is waiting.

The cop says, "That woman over there says she just gave you $20 to buy crack, and you didn't give her anything."

The second woman says "No sir, officer, I do NOT sell crack. I am a prostitute."

Also got into Animal Planet's "The Future is Wild", though I view it a speculative fiction rather than sound science... mainly because we don't have a lot of the variables in place to make even something that I'd consider an educated guess about what life on Earth will be like 100 million years from now. I did rather like the tunneling birds and land-squid, however. The art and movement of the new beasties is really amazing.

Random Scotto factoid - In grade school, I hated diagramming sentences. *Hated it* Ms Mickey, the teacher at the time was as cool as could be, but when I was obliged to do that on paper... or worse, go up to the black board, I could feel the pickle-puss hang on my face. At the time, it struck me as some of the most pointless stuff I'd ever been obliged to do, and though I recognize the usefulness now, I still really don't like doing it. I wonder if it'll ever get telegraphed? Some little kid will ask me for help some day, I'll see what it is, throw off a "oh, that stuff again..." and give that munchkin an irrational dislike for it, too?

a year ago Signs movie, cancerless cigs, hellboy movie, scary bunny, 2nd wishes, Oz scary, zombies land on beach, Anna Nicole show hurt to watch

2 years ago - Oz quiz, Dictionaraoke, Day planning

3 years ago - Florida panthers, everglades restoration efforts, lj adds interests

8/3/03
A few sites for positive change - None of them cost a penny but can help to do good works.

The hunger site - free food to the hungry
Breast cancer site - Help to fund free mammograms
Child Health site - Help save young lives for free
Rainforest Site - help to preserve our rainforests
Animal rescue site - Feed an animal in need.

Ok.. now that I've built up some positive karma, let's whine a little about whiners.

In The Silence of the Lambs the egregious psychiatrist Dr. Hannibal Lecter explains to Agent Clarice Starling why he killed one of his own patients: "I simply could not endure his interminable whining any longer. Besides, his therapy was going nowhere. Believe me, Clarice, there isn't a psychiatrist in the country who wouldn't like to refer a few cases to me."

That sums up how I feel about a lot of the journals out there. I'm glad that I have the easy way out, and can opt not to read them or even link. I feel that a few of the journals I've seen (none that I regularly read, though some certainly exist on my friends friends page) in passing are written by "professional victims." I can't help but wonder if a daily whiney / angst journal can be good, because they're getting it out of their system, or if it's a bad idea they're feeding that sense of misery and isolation to the exclusion of any other feelings. I suspect it's more often the latter. I do know that journals will sometimes have hostility, angst and melancholy in them... heck, I do it enough. The flipside, of course is the folks that write that way out of a desire for attention or coddling. "Woe is me, woe is me" loses a lot of its strength after hearing someone say it for a year.

The ones that complain and *only complain* deeply, heartfully about the most non-issues are what get me. If something bugs you, do something, and make a positive difference. The world's a big place with plenty of room for improvement.



Perhaps I can't do as Dr. Lecter did... strip them nude, extract the sweetbreads, drop them in a Virginia church wearing only a silk top hat and with a child's bubble pipe in their mouths. But I can think and giggle about it.

If I were to suggest anything, I'd go with variety. Find something from the past that made you happy as a child, maybe. Try *not* whining about everything, but maybe celebrate something wonderful. I know that can be more easily said than done, but making an effort is a good first step.

Another totally unrelated linkadoodle - Some *amazing* cakes. Pastry sculpture, more like.

He who breaks the law, goes back to the house of pain.

8/3/03
I thought blogshares would be more interesting than it is. (BlogShares is a fantasy stock market where web logs are the companies. Players invest fictional dollars on shares in blogs. Blogs are valued by their incoming links and add value to other blogs by linking to them. Prices can go up or down based on trading and the underlying value of the blog.) The site is very slow… almost to the point of not being playable. I'll give it a few days, and see if it shifts in any direction, one way or the other.

I'm ranked as the 9th top player for august 2003 so far. (Scott von Berg 20726.49% growth -Rank: 4208, $104,132.43 current worth / $500.00 start of month)

As it stands now, I've only invested in my own... when you register your blog, you get 1000 shares of your own journal, but maybe I'll expand outward to folks on my reading list as well. Starting with $500 virtual dollars, and the stock value of my site, my portfolio is worth $104,271.60 I set up a goofy little RSS feed () that'll tell me when / how the share value fluctuates. Oddly, since my journal can be accessed in three distinctly different links, via http://scottobear.livejournal.com, http://www.livejournal.com/~scottobear and http://www.livejournal.com/users/scottobear, it's valued in three different ways, depending on investments. s.l.com is currently worth $49.91 each - 249.52 p/e, ~ is worth $34.42 each -172.10 p/e, and users is $19.62 each - 98.03 p/e

Looking at things, I see that has already placed a bid on the most expensive of the available shares, but at no profit to me. He'd stand a greater chance of profit by bidding on public shares in the "users or ~" version. For simplicity of bidding, I've made those mentioned in this paragraph as direct links to the respective blogshares. If you want to play, I recommend the one that's going for $19.62 each, rather than the $49.91. (Less than half price, with growth potential. I think the middle one "users" has the most growth possibility, because that's the default listing.)

Other folks listed on blogshares that I might look into investing in (- (typed in to the search, many on my list haven't been listed I'm tempted to post my reading list here, so that they get spidered) (here), (here), (here), (here) and (here). If anyone else sets up an account, or ends up on blogshares, let me know, so I can invest. :) The above listings were spidered (many from my journal, I'd imagine), and aren't officially "on the market" yet.


Of course, totally private or friends only-blogs aren't tradable, nor are "non-indexed sites" as there's nothing for the public to link to or track. Communities also seem to be out of the action, which is a shame, because I imagine the would do well. Also, Weblogs.com has to be active in your userinfo, I think.

Regarding the Vampire game... they've added a new element. Peacekeepers. There are flyers pasted up on many walls in the city, advertising "Peacekeepers Missions". There are very small quite useless maps scrawled on the poorly photocopies scraps of paper, but the addresses are quite clear - the newbie mission is at Emerald and 67th, while the others are at Unicorn and 33rd and Emerald and 33rd respectively. It looks like 'mission' is used in the sense of a building, rather than the sense of a quest, but it's not very clear at all.

The Expedition Company... seems normal enough for vacations and getaways until you get to the part about the hollow earth expedition.


Nifty sounding drink that I've never consumed -

Dead Lizard

Ingredients:
Vodka
Raspberry cordial to taste
Coca-Cola to taste

Mixing instructions:
Pour vodka into glass. Add cordial until color becomes light red. Add coke until definite color change occurs. Drink.

Wood that works - Really cool kinetic sculptures.A little pricey for my pocketbook, but nifty, especially since there are no batteries or electricity involved.

Buckled down, and put Norton Systemworks 2003 on my system... it was long overdue. the 2001 updates just weren't enough anymore after the last service pack. It's pretty much the same stuff, with a mildly shinier interface.

It's been thunder-rumbling since last night, but the rain itself has been coming only in brief, but heavy downpours. Florida weather will never cease to amaze me.

a year ago - went to the singing fountain, sleestaks, telemarketers, Art conspiracy (No Longer allows remote linking! bah!), rainy laundry day, evil ashtrays, Signs, halloween costume thoughts

2 years back - mexican jumping beans, crayola tech support, germane, evil news, bachelor dinner, warped radio

3 years back - religion quiz, taco bell binge, Dopey Client desires, red rubber ball

8/2/03
Random Scotto Stuff - My first job for a large company (Taco Viva, Boynton Beach Mall, 1985, I think?) payed minimum wage, at the time $3.35 an hour. I made enough for gas a telephone line and car insurance.

Electronics Boutique paid a bit better than that, and for a while I worked dual-duty. The stink of EB and the Bookstore was that I was required to wear a tie.

When I started at the library, in high school, the wage was $4.42 an hour. That was part-time, and paid under $300 a month after taxes. Six years later, when I stopped working there, I was making just under double that. (Which was a good thing, because my first solo dwelling, a studio, cost me $330 a month in rent.) Happily, I found better pay being an assistant manager at a bookstore near my apartment and school.

Added some fun games to the Toybox...Plastic Balls!, Clay Kitten Skeet Shooting, Hairball Bowling, Hexxagon and The Pipe Game.

8/2/03

Random bit of Curiosity -


I wonder why that never caught on in the states?

The Newest Cereal... Monopoly, Based on the board game. Basically Cinnamon toast crunch with marshmallows. That's too sickly-sweet even for me.

Random Scotto Recipe-

Fun Putty:

Ingredients needed:

2 Cups of Elmer's Glue

3 tsp Borax detergent (all grocery stores still sell it - *must* be Borax)

Cold water

2 containers for mixing, 1 container that seals airtight for storing

Food coloring (optional)

The process:

in Container A mix 2 cups Elmer's glue, 1 1/2 cups cold water, and whatever food coloring you want to use (it won't work to try to add the food coloring later).

STIR VERY WELL

In Container B mix 1 1/2 cups cold water and 3 tsp Borax. Stir continuously to disperse the Borax granules -- they will *not* dissolve. While the Borax is dispersed in the water (before it settles to the bottom), pour this solution into Container A. DO NOT MIX!! DON'T TOUCH IT!! (But watch how it congeals, very cool interaction.)

Let it set for 12 - 24 hours uncovered (again, DO NOT MIX while it is setting). At the end of the setting up, there may be a watery residue on top. That’s okay.

Now comes the fun part! Stick your hand into Container A and WORK THE GOO. It will be slippery at first. When it gets shiny and sort of plastic-y looking, it's ready. You’ll know it when it gets there -- it looks and feels just like silly putty should.

Keep it sealed in an airtight container, and take it out and play with it often. Put it on the table and watch it ooze. Hold it in your hand, and watch it ooze. Give it to your friends, and watch it... ooze.

DON'T eat it. While it picks up easily, don't rub it in the carpet... it may *do* things inside the vacuum cleaner

Chemistry involved - Elmer’s Glue is made up of polyvinyl acetate, which reacts with water to some extent to replace some of the acetate groups with OH (alcohol) groups. The B-OH groups on the borax molecules react with the acetate groups on the glue molecules (relatively long polymer chains) to eliminate acetic acid and form new bonds between the borax and two glue molecules. The linking of two glue molecules via one borax molecule is called polymer cross-linking and it makes a bigger polymer molecule, which is now less liquid-like and more solid.

Thought - Perhaps buying those colored glues might make for a nifty setup... do they make glow in the dark Elmer’s?



Added a silly little tagboard to the toybox section. We'll see how long it lasts. The Toybox is going to be something of a lab for a while.

Carnivore client is a pretty fascinating way to gather data. The interpretation of cnn.com is rather pretty, to boot.

For any Vampires - Discount magic shop between Gibbon & 28th, and Gum & 29th. Great prices!
Scroll of Turning (350), Vial of Holy Water (1400), Scroll of Teleportation (3500)

a year ago - talked to rob (we never got together), baron von bludd, strange black blobs

2 years ago - rainy, Owen Ng, broken drug war link, Thunderstorm, code red, lord humongous

3 years ago - Finished HP2, started hp3, foodies, moved to the 12-8 shift at IMT

8/1/03
Looking into A Child is Missing. It looks like they do really good work, helping the police during the first few hours of the disappearance of a child / elderly / disabled person. They're funded by donations and government grants. The home base is only about 2 miles from my apartment, too.

Sakes... what a little celebrity gossip-mongering list this is. Newest stuff in blue...Like all gossip, I'm sure it's best taken with a grain of salt. Maybe a whole salt lick. (Orson Welles possibly the Black Dahlia Murderer?)

Omniglot: A Guide to Writing Systems -For fun stuff, see the alternative writing systems, including alphabets from Fantasy and Science Fiction. See your name in assorted systems.

Metacritic is a ratings accumulator not unlike Rotten Tomatoes (except that it covers music as well as film, videro/dvd, and games). Gigli is currently at 19, and falling, or "Overwhemiing Dislike and/or Disgust." (0-19 is the lowest possible score range, out of 100) Right now, Rotten Tomatoes has Gigli at an average rating of 2.6/10, with only one positive review out of the 59 accrued so far. A decent movie is considered 60% or better... the current list is 2%.

Non-castaways on Gilligan's Island Master List

Wrongway Feldman (Hans Conried)
Japanese Sailor (Vito Scotti)
Jackson Farrell (Larry Storch), accomplice (Kenneth Smith)
Indigo Mob "Hank" (Louis Quinn), "Lucky" (Jack Sheldon)
Jungle Boy (Kurt Russell)
Surfer Duke Williams (Denny Scott Miller)
Alexandri Gregor Dubov (Harold J. Stone)
Enrico Rodriguez (Nehemiah Persoff)
Russian Cosmonauts Ivan and Igor (Vincent Beck, Danny Lega)
The Mosquitoes (The Wellington's; Les Brown Jr. 'Band Leader', Ed Wade, George Patterson, Kirby Johnson)
Erika Tiffany Smith (Zsa-Zsa Gabor), Boat driver (Michael Whitney)
Robot (Bob D'Arcy)
Minature Gilligan (Beanstalk) Patrick Denver
Mr. Howell Imposter (Jim Backus)
A Ghost (Richard Kiel), On Walkie-Talkie (Charles Maxwell)
Mad Scientist Boris Balinkoff (Vito Scotti), Igor (Mike Mazurki)
Gilligan's Double, a Russian Spy (Bob Denver)
Harold Hecuba (Phil Silvers)
Lord Beasley Waterford (John McGiver)
Kidnapper Norbert Wiley (Don Rickles)
Eva Grubb (Tina Louise)
George Barkley (Strother Martin)
Johnathan Kincaid (Rory Calhoun), Ramoo (Harold Sakata)
Tongo the Ape Man (Denny Scott Miller)
Native Girl Kalani (Midori), Native Warrier Ugandi (Michael Forest)
King Killiwanna (Stanley Adams), Other Natives (Mickey Morton), (Robert Swimmer)
Native Headhunters (Roman Gabriel) Then quarterback of the Los Angeles Rams,(Eddie Little Sky), (Allen Jaffe)
Music Hath Charm Natives (Paul Daniel, (Russ Grieve), (Frank Corsentino)
Native Family, Chief (Russ Grieve), Mother (Henny Backus), Fat Native Girl (Mary Foran), Native Warrier Haruki (Eddie Little Sky)
Kupaki Headhunters (Jim Lefebra, Al Ferrar, Pete Sotoge)
Matoban Tribe, Michael Forest, Mike Reece, Bill Hart
Inmate Sterling Holloway (Birdy) (note: He is the real voice of Winnie The Pooh)
Prison Guard, Harry Swoger
CIA Agents (Plastic explosives) Rudy Larusso, at Headquarters Bartlett Robinson (Hartley) Kurt Duncan
General Bryant, Operation Powdercake, Harry Lauter
Kidnapping Ape and Ape With Weapons, Janos Prohaska
Cape Canaveral Scientists, Booth Colman (Corwell), Arthur Peterson (Bancroft)
Cinderella Knight, Billy Curtis
Astronauts, Scott Graham (Tobias), Jim Spencer (Ryan)

With a $200 rebate from Amazon and $100 from T-Mobile, the Handspring Treo 270 can be had for the low, low price of $49.99. That is a seriously sweet deal.