Monthly Archives: June 2006

Snark Snark Snarkity Snark

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I’ve been reading The Arctic Circle and lordy I think I’ve had an epiphany. I’ve read some doozies of fics-Mary Sue, major character bashing, really BAD lemons (sex scenes), atrocious grammar and spelling plus threatening not to update unless they get reviews.
Good Lord people! I see they don’t teach basic writing techniques at school, not to mention praising them for doing basic things like dressing themselves.
Apparently there has been some dissension in the ranks of the InuYasha fandom over various things like reviews, stalking, etc.. People GET OVER your damn selves. Its just a bloody story y’all.
I love the show. I spend money on it and I really enjoy it, BUT seriously, now, some of the people who profess to love the show/books really need a reality check. You’re ruining it for the rest of us with your hissy fits and ego-stroking. Same goes for all the other fandoms, especially Harry Potter.

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In Local News Today

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A train derailed near Sweetwater this morning around 3 AM. Here in Monroe County, a lot of people live close to the railroad, so whenever something like this happens, its a big mess. Quite a few people had to be evacuated to Sweetwater High School and they may not go back home till tommorrow, depending on if they get the mess cleaned up in time. For additional info:

Monroe County Advocate Democrat

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Update: WVLT used Google Maps to show where the wreck occurred during their coverage of the wreck. Really neat, I think. (I live close to the area but wasn't evacuated since I'm only about 5 miles or so away from the area)

A Thought….

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I was listening to Coast To Coast with George Noory after picking up the DH from work and he had a guest on the show that brought up the idea that there are parallels between 21st century America and the Roman Empire.

I recall reading that when America was founded that the Founders wanted to emulate the idealized version of the Roman Republic combined with aspects of Athenian democracy.

I decided to Google the idea this morning so I can read up on it, plus read Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Lots of ideas and links, so I’ll do a tab-dump.

From The Globalist:Is America the New Roman Empire? The article discusses how President Bush discussedwanting to make the U.S. into the world’s ONLY military power. Rather disturbing I think.

From The Guardian:Rome, AD … Rome, DC? More in-depth article about the possibility that the States is wanting an Empire like Rome.

From the Guardian again:Waiting for the Barbarians where the author discusses how the increasing gap between the rich and the poor, the increasing inadequacy of social programs, like Social Security and Medicare, and other factors.

From Samizdata.net: Terence Kealey on the fall of the Roman Empire Excerpt of a book by Terence Kealy called The Economic Laws of Scientific Research which brings up some valid points about suppression of technology (brings in copyright, DRM, HDCP, etc.), how the powers-that-be reward the rich and ignore the poor and the loss of religious and intellectual freedom.

I thought about what was said on Coast to Coast and what I’ve read so far and I think that there is a parallel between the Roman Empire and America, but the situation isn’t as dire as some people think. But I do believe that some massive reforms are needed or there will be revolution.

This Is Your Brain Online, How Video Games, Multitasking And Blogging Are Shaping The GenTech Brain – CBS News

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This Is Your Brain Online, How Video Games, Multitasking And Blogging Are Shaping The GenTech Brain – CBS News via digg

Interesting points yet oddly enough its not just teenagers who seem to do too much.  For instance, as I was writing this blog, I read a few comments on digg, ran a web search for something that wasn’t even related to the article, downloaded a new copy of Trillian, added a new extension to Firefox, and started Party Shuffle on iTunes, not to mention talk with my 5 year old.  

I think that the increasing availability of computers and the Internet, not to mention the increase in TV, movie and music choices is causing a corresponding rise in ADD-like behaviors/multitasking.  Then again I have ADD myself, so perhaps I’m merely filtering my observations through the ADD filter.  

My Toolkit for GTD/Living

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I've been messing around trying to get my stuff together so that I have no distractions so I can settle down and get stuff done. Previously I've written about setting up a Control Journal a la FlyLady and various bits I've been trying to get my stuff in order and to keep myself from contanstly thinking of what I have to do when I would rather do the stuff and spend my brainpower on being a better mother, wife, daughter and writer. So I've decided to write down my toolkit that I've settled into.

I had Fun

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Spent Sunday afternoon helping the hubby disassemble two computers and create a new one using the video card and HD from the old one and putting them into the new to us computer. I like this one since the monitor is much newer(the old one was bought in 1996 and could only do 800×600.) and I have lots of space on the hard drive. Spent all day Monday (fromm 10 am Monday to 1:30AM this morning) installing Windows XP, the service packs, plus the security fixes (about 60+ in all) and getting the majority of the programs installed and moving files. I still have some disk housekeeping to do, mainly defrag, plus set up SyncToy to back up files/folders to the second HD which was the one out of the old computer.

I’ve started back into using Omea Reader for RSS/Usenet since I’m using Gmail’s web interface for my mail. I liked Thunderbird but got tired of the huge archive I was keeping so Copernic could index my emails. I’ve switched back to Google Desktop 4 for desktop search since I don’t have to have a archive on the HD which is not fun backing up.

All in all it was one of the easiest clean installs of XP I’ve done, since I had the files I wanted to move handy on another HD and I wasn’t concerned about settings (well except FireFox since I have passwords saved).

A Clean House Means a Broken Computer

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Or in my case, a hubby who likes XBOX Live and no way to share the cable internet. Well, in times of no access, I usually messed around with my files, either reading fics I've archived on my hard drive or in tidying up my bookmarks. I've made some headway in plotting out a book I'll like to write and even corralled the plot bunnies for a second book.  And I've been playing around taking photos of clouds and other things, trying to learn how to take decent and pretty digital pictures.
My Office Nook

My Desktop

 Bradford Pear and Clouds