When it comes down to me, there have been a few elements that have led to hostility. In times past, finding a common enemy is the fastest way to make the wrong kind of friends. Joining with someone else to belittle a third party was a very easy trap to fall into, especially if the third party knows nothing about it. I've been guilty of instigating and joining into that sort of nonsense more times than I can count, really, only realizing it upon later reflection do I feel bad about it. Pam was someone that brought out my mean side (and I imagine I brought hers out, too), to the point that I really didn't like the person I was when she was around. We were great friends, but that friendship seemed to be almost fueled on some sort of smug sense of superiority and taking shots at others. When we had run out of enemies to remover, we turned our respective gun-barrels on one another. I can honestly say that I've been a much better person without her around as a catalyst for those mannerisms and behaviors, and I daresay that she's probably in a similar situation. I don't know what'd happen if we got together and talked these days... I like to think that I'd know better than to fall into that habit again, but who knows? I don't foresee that ever happening, anyhow. Where we were once best friends, she saw to it that that friendship was brought to an end not once, but twice. I don't see it being worth any effort to open communications a third time.
I've got friendships salvaged with Ray, a longstanding one with Danny, and newer friendships both online and off with my sweetheart, the hippies, some LJers and Therians. I consider Doug Wu a friend, though I don't get to speak with him as often as I'd like. Honestly, I don't spend enough time with the majority of my friends.. .Danny's about the only one I communicate with as regularly as I'd prefer. Anyhow, back to general hostilities, and why.
In recent years, I've been known to be amazingly hostile and nasty in return to folks that have:
- Hurt, knowingly or unknowingly, people that I care about
- Invaded my territory without permission first
- Broken trust or an oath that I was relying on.
- Touched me without my permission (either expressed or implied)
- Tried to threaten my position in business, friendship or love (regardless of whether or not that threat had any strength behind it.)
Danny has told me that he sometimes feels more mean or nasty when his chemistry is out of whack, and I can agree with that. He's generally a happy, friendly guy, with very little interest in being hostile, but I've seen cracks in his armor form once or twice.
All of that said, I'm usually the exact opposite of mean...downright nice, even. I take a lot of pleasure in welcoming new people "into the fold" at work or other social groups, and getting to know them. I'm usually even nice to people I dislike, for the sake of diplomacy, if nothing else. Speaking of people I dislike, but tolerate... my insurance company: my shampoo-nurse came by, and my hair is clean, but my scalp is tingly from being scrubbed for the first time in over a week. bleah. I hope I never have to wait that long again.
Doctors find plant growing in boy's nose
Romanian doctors have found a plant growing in a four-year-old boy's nose.
The boy, from a mountain village in Vrancea county, had not complained about the germinating bean and was only in the surgery for a check-up.
Doctor Nicolae Moise, from County Hospital in Focsani, told Evenimentul Zilei newspaper: "As the boy didn't cry or tell his mother anything, it sprung to life and had little leaves when we found it."
The doctors said they had extracted many different things from children's noses and ears but never a living plant before.
The Elegant Universe. Three hour long Nova Episodes, broken into eight chapters each. In RealVideo and Quicktime.
Worst Album Covers Ever.
Talked to the brother, and it looks like he likes his new job well enough to stay with it, until he finds one he's more interested in.
Back is mending reasonably well. (cut to spare those who don't like staples or cuts or ick.) Portions have filled all the way to the top already. I figure the staples are totally ready to be removed. I'm a pretty fast healer.
Folks seem to be in a general funk today.. The gloomy side of autumn is rearing its head. *good vibes for the saddies, flu-people, and such*
You are The Cheshire Cat
A huge grin constantly plastered upon your face,
you never cease to amuse. You are completely
confusing and contradictory to most everyone.
What Alice in Wonderland Character Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla
be sorted @ nimbo.net
bull penis dog chews "come in three sizes: 6 inches, 12 inches and 24 inches." You can determine if it's safe for work or not.
The graveyard of old Las Vegas signs is a place I've always wanted to visit.
Hmm.. my journal's layout reverted last night to default.
I checked status.livejournal.org, and got -
The maintenance on the Santa cluster is now complete.D'oh! I just got bounced to Santa the other day because the Ribeye was being naughty!
Users who are using the S1 style system may find that their journal style has been reset to the Default LiveJournal style. This was an unintentional bug that was introduced when developers were trying to fix another bug. You will have to re-select your preferred style now that it has been fixed.
Dadburn it! Back to the Modify Journal page. At least my calendar view and friends view wasn't horked.
There.. that's better.
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A dear friend of mine writes:
I've been involved in a truly inspiring story about a woman of extraordinary courage. Liz DiVivo was a 36 year old wife and mother of two lovely girls. And just a few months after she finished her Master's degree, she suddenly was struck with a rare and incurable disease.
The story of her wait for two years for a double lung and heart transplant is one of the most gripping stories I have read in my life. Liz did get her transplant back at the beginning of August, 2003 --- and the amazing thing is, she was just released from the hospital and is on her way to a tremendous recovery.
I thought I should let you know because you can download a free ebook Liz wrote for the whole two years she was waiting for her transplant. I guarantee, you'll laugh, and you'll cry, but most of all, you'll take some rich lessons about life from this amazing woman. It is an easy read, with just a page for each day. It's called "Believing in Second Changes: The Story of a Life." You can read it with the Adobe Reader.
http://www.lizfund.org/download/Liz%20DeVivo%20Believing%20in%20Second%20Chances.pdf
At the site they also have some great pictures of Liz and her family, and you can get up-to-the-minute updates on entries to her diary. If you want a get a dose of true inspiration, I recommend you visit there now, and read Liz's diary.
This is to those of you who have decent exposure... we have put together this eBook of basically Liz's online journal she kept for all this time, and we are attempting to have people download it, and with enough downloads, perhaps be able to pitch it to a real publisher who'd make a printed copy and give Liz and her family some much needed money (if you have any idea how much these things cost, you can imagine, even a book deal probably won't cover her expenses... but she is alive!)
This is mainly directed at Ldy, who has the power to not only get her friends to download this, but those friends to spread it to their friends. A real meme, so to speak.
Consider it done, Scooter.
If you can, folks, please do right-click on this link-- it's only a ten second download on broadband. I'm already in the middle of two other books, and yet am finding it a compelling read.
And please do pass on the link as well.
The rest of her site is here: http://www.lizfund.org/
It's easy to become jaded in this online world, where so many people are not what they seem.
Take ten seconds and a chance, and open your heart just a wee bit, k?
Thanks :)
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Landlord walking more people through to inspect the roof, to sell the place. I look forward to showing them the scary element that's in the closet. He called at 10pm last night to let me know.. getting better about notifications.. but not much. I'm just glad that I'm home while they're doing the walkthroughs.. I *really* hate folks walking through my place (potentially letting newt get out) when I'm not home. I would've had to tell them that they'll need to reschedule...I wonder if he would've, or pulled something sneaky?
Frankie is still living next door. I asked LL about it, and he mentioned that he was being "relocated". I wonder what that means, exactly?
8.5GB DVD+R discs, drives to ship April '04
Expect double-layer, almost double-capacity DVD+R drives and media to hit the stores next April, members of the DVD+RW alliance say.
The technology, co-developed by drive maker Philips, and media specialists Verbatim and Mitsubishi Kagaku, adds a second recording layer to a standard-thickness DVD+R disc, taking the medium's capacity from 4.7GB to 8.5GB.
That's enough for four hours of DVD-quality material, 16 hours of VHS-quality content or two hours' archive footage. The discs are playback-compatible with existing DVD players and DVD-ROM drives.
Initial products will offer a write speed of 2.4x.
DVD+R DL, as the technology is known, was demo'd last month in Japan and shown to the press in London last week. Alliance members said the next step is to publish the format's specifications, a process which should be complete this year.
Officially, the Alliance says DVD+R DL hardware and media will ship during "the course of 2004", but privately a number of member companies said they are "hoping" for an April 2004 introduction.
That should provide a further boost for the DVD+R/+RW format, which is increasingly seen as the successor to the older DVD-R/-RW spec., thanks to its full multi-session compatibility with both DVD-ROM and consumer DVD systems. Essentially, DVD+RW discs can be re-edited even when the session has been closed - of 'finalized' - to ensure compatibility with DVD video playback. That said, there have been some claims about the level of DVD+R/+RW compatibility with consumer DVD players; the consensus appears to be that DVD-R/-RW discs, suitably finalized, are more likely to work with any DVD player than is a DVD+R/+RW.
Fortunately, the question of which format to go for is becoming made less relevant thanks to the growing number of DVD burners that support both media formats. The DVD+RW Alliance claims that next year pure-play DVD+R/+RW drives will outsell DVD-R/-RW units four to one. Also, dual-mode drives will also outsell single-format drives.
Plague of locusts causes mass allergy attack
A plague of locusts is being blamed for an epidemic of allergic attacks in central Sudan. At least 11 people have died and thousands are reported to have been hospitalized, suffering from what Sudanese officials are calling "lung eczema".
The outbreak centers around Sudan's second largest city of Medani, 180 kilometers south of the capital Khartoum. The annual locust swarm has been particularly ferocious in 2003 and experts believe it has triggered an allergic reaction in the local population, aggravating asthma.
The local authorities told Sudan's national news agency that there had been an above average increase in asthma cases from 22 October: "We consider [it] an epidemic for patients suffering from asthma." The mass allergic reaction is the first ever reported in Sudan.
Abdel Moneim Hassan Khalifa, an agricultural official in the Medani area, told Sudan's al-Rai al-Amm newspaper the illness is linked to a pheromone released by locusts during their mating season. It has "a strong effect on people with asthma," he said.
"I wouldn't be surprised," says entomologist Janet Hemingway, director of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine in the UK. "Insects release various chemicals, and the scales come off them as well. You can certainly get respiratory illness linked to working with insects, and not just locusts."
Face mask
Insects are well known sources of allergens and there are strict rules to safeguard the health of UK scientists working with them in the lab. For example, scientists with respiratory problems are forbidden from this kind of work, and all researchers must wear a face mask.
Previous studies have shown that scientists working with locusts in the lab are much more likely than researchers not handling the tropical pests to develop work-related wheezing.
Outbreaks of desert locust are not unusual in Sudan, but the UN Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome issued an alert on 20 October warning that a particularly bad plague might threaten crops in Sudan, Niger and Mauritania.
"The number of locusts is increasing rapidly. They are beginning to concentrate themselves into groups characteristic of an outbreak," warned FAO's Locust Group in a statement.
Swarm behavior
The group notes that: "Desert locusts are normally solitary, scattered insects but when climatic conditions are favorable, for example after good rains and a mild temperature, they can rapidly increase in number." The pests tend to congregate as the rainy season ends and the vegetation dies off, leaving only isolated pockets.
After several years of drought, exceptional rains in Mauritania had allowed the desert locusts to breed and increase in number in 2003, says the FAO. "Vegetation had dried out much quicker than expected in the country, causing locusts to concentrate in three areas," it adds.
Hemingway says that the actions, not just the presence, of the locusts could also be responsible for the allergy epidemic. A swarm of locusts devastating vegetation can leave lots of dust in the air, while chemicals, such as phenols, can be released from the breakdown of vegetation. "It could be a whole raft of things," she says.
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