I think the story speaks for itself.

Saw this in a forum and found it amusing. Naturally, it was a political discussion:

Person A: Blind faith leads to too much trouble down the road.

Person B:Right. This from a guy who still believes in "Weapons of Mass Destruction"!

A couple years ago, Andrew and I were interviewed by Melbourne Weekly. We got a "hero shot" picture and everything, it was pretty cool. The reason we were interviewed was because we met on the net and they were doing a feature article on online dating, etc. (not that we were participating in online dating or anything, we just happened to meet online).

Anyway, that was our fifteen minutes. Still have the magazine around somewhere. It was a really good picture of us, actually, which is amazing because neither Andrew nor I are particularly photogenic.

Well, now it seems that Andrew's brother has has fifteen seconds of fame because he's a trainspotter. (Just for the record, the amount of stuff that David knows about trains is amazing, in a creepy, scary sort of way).

I just kinda find it amusing that Andrew and I were interviewed for having a life, and David was interviewed because he hasn't got one...

I'm searching around for a vector item (a "shape") to use in Photoshop. I need a seven pointed star. Naturally, I went to Google, and I put in a search for:

"seven point star" vector

Mind you, I have no idea what a seven point starvector might actually be, but out of curiosity I did a little bit of a search. It seems to be associated with two things. First, with scifi geeks. Secondly, with UFOs, specifically the Incident at Roswell, New Mexico (c'mon, you know the one I mean).

Isn't it interesting the stuff that Google offers to tell you about? Honestly, I'm starting to think it's some sort of artificial intelligence device...

Yes, believe it or not, I've uploaded new pictures to my photo gallery. We went on a day trip yesterday, and I got some snaps to share. Look in the Flora and the Scenic: Victoria categories.

The Key Tronic E05305US205-C 104-Key Keyboard Win95 PS/2 L-Shape Enter Key is something you should really check out. And be sure to read the customer comments!

It was a lovely spring day. Warm, but with a cool breeze. All the spring flowers are in blossom all over the place Very nice.

And I realized with a start that I didn't have a headache. So what, you might wonder. Well, I've had an almost constant headache for weeks now. Once it escalated into a full-blown migraine. No amount of medication, caffeine, sleep, or anything else would make it go away, although some medication (particularly codeine) would take the edge off.

This continual headache is purely stress related, and I know this because I don't have it today and the REASON I don't have it is Migrastick, a peppermint and lavender roll-on oil that actually works to relieve my stress headaches.

I don't know how it works. I don't really care. It DOES work, though, at least for me. If I put some on before I go to bed, I sleep better.

If you suffer from stress symptoms, particularly headaches, try this stuff. You've got nothing to lose but the headache. It's amazing to NOT have a headache after having a constant one for so long, I must say...

Emails spruiking celebrity porn or get-rich-quick schemes would be outlawed under new measures to ease the number of junk messages popping up in Australian inboxes.
 
But new laws introduced to parliament today are unlikely to have much of an impact on the bulk of unsolicited commercial emails, or spam, which originate overseas.

Still, it's an interesting read, if nothing else.

It's well known to people who know me that I have a strange semi-obsession with phallic objects. It's not actually prurience on my part, though. When I was studying art history I became aware of the phallus as a universal and enduring shape/symbol in art going back to prehistoric times, and I found it kind of amusing and funny, and I've been interested in the subject ever since. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

Anyway, I recently came upon Ireland and the Phallic Continuum and I was, needless to say, delighted and amused. Perhaps you might be at all, but be warned, if you're bothered by phallic imagery, you might not find this to your taste. All of the objects are stone or carved in stone, but a couple of them are quite graphic. Please visit the site with this in mind (and don't say I didn't warn you).

Finally! A USB cup wamer!

Never underestimate the power of human stupidity.

Got this stuck in my spam filter today:

The powerful, effective and intelligent anti-spam tool.

Hmmm. Well, you're in my filter and I've just reported you to the originating system. Hey! It works!

It's SPRING! Finally. I was out today and it was so nice and springlike out there. It's not even raining (mind you, we need the rain, but it's been raining a LOT lately). I've got the patio and laundry room doors open to let in the fresh air. Mmm. Equinox in just a couple of weeks, woohoo! (This is mostly a biological thing, mind you, but I always say I get in high gear around Equinox and stay that way until just after the other Equinox. Mid-winter, though... ugh.)

And there's more! I've been invited to be an "approved artist" for a gaming site. They have a means for players to put in pictures of their characters, and for copyright purposes, only allow art made by approved artists that they know and support. It's all purely freelance, of course, and the player pays for the art, which is fine with me (I like freelance, short-term projects, as I get board with long ones). There are lots of interesting fantasy races and character classes to make pictures of (since I need to put up some samples of my own choosing), and, woohoo, it's a MUD.

How long has it been since I went to a MUD? Ages, but I'm quite familiar with the environment. I also used to be a pretty fanatical fantasy role player (I do everything I'm interested in fanatically, mind you). I've read so many fantasy magazines and seen so much fantasy art (which, if you've looked at my online gallery, you've probably figured out, eh?). I'm REALLY comfortable with the genre and with a gaming environment, and with MUDs, too.

This project practically has my name written on it. I'm actually pretty excited about it. I'll post a link (and probably eventually put in a permanent link eventually) when I've gotten more into it and it seems appropriate to do so. I tend to jump into things with both feet and immerse myself in them, sometimes to my regret when I make a fool of myself or things don't work out or whatever. I'm learning to temper that. A bit, anyway. I won't deny I find this idea really interesting and potentially great fun. Anyway, I'll post a link when it seems like a good idea to do that.

Finally, Zoë is doing really well. Her speech is getting much better, and she's forming simple sentences all on her own, without prompting. She seems to be (knock on wood) teaching herself how to control her bladder, and she's definitely FINALLY getting the bowel control idea. (For those who haven't been around or don't recall, Zoë is now going toward four years old and she's mildly autistic. I'm not ashamed to admit that I've been worried about my little girl and her prospects in the world, but it's looking very good. Her prognosis is excellent, and there's improvement already, after only about six or eight months of therapy and pre-school. Whew. (Oh, and for the record, the kid is clearly VERY smart. Nothing worng with her intelligence at all. She's just language-impaired and somewhat socially impaired, both of which can be worked through with the right therapy.)

So. Yes. Life is good. It's the end of winter, in many ways.

I used to always have a Hotmail account to be my "trashcatcher" account. I'd use that for things like downloads and such that require a working address but where I don't trust the site enough to give my proper one (yes, it's filtered, but I'd still rather not be bothered by more spam than necessary).

Anyway, that account expired, so I went and made a new one, with a different login name. I've had this account for less than 24 hours. It's ALREADY got spam in it. Several pieces.

My only thought is that the address was previously used by someone else, but it's a really unusual word for the login name, so that seems dubious. I wonder, does Hotmail just hand out your email address instantly? Their privacy policy indicates that they don't, but when you get spam in an account you've had for less than a DAY, you really, REALLY have to wonder what the hell is going on...

After decades of antagonism between the two global powers, the U.S. has officially severed relations with Them, Bush administration officials announced Tuesday.

(Oh, what the hell. Just go visit this week's issue of The Onion and read all of it. It's damned funny, and they're equal opportunity offenders. They make fun of everything.)

The visually tricky type images on this site are really interesting. Page is a bit slow to load, but it's worth it. Wow. Cool.

Well, it seems that today is Google's fifth birthday, or so I gather from the graphic they have up today. *thinks back* 1998... Let's see, I was working at that ISP there on the Silicon Prairie (an ISP which no longer exists, it would seem; dunno if they were sold or merged or just changed names or what), learning all sorts of stuff and getting paid to surf the net and hanging out in the GeekLair(tm) with the other geeks (all of them male, no big surprise there, most geeks are deprived of a XX chromosome compliment). And you know what? I actually DO recall my immediate supervisor (Aaron, affectionately known as BossBoy) saying, "Hey! Check out this cool new search engine site! It's way better than Alta Vista!"

And I remember being not inclined to change search engines then because I was used to Alta Vista and I was used to that one.

Oh, how times have changed... I ONLY use Google now. All I use Alta Vista for is to go there and manually add websites when I have something I want to get into the search engine/index cycle in a hurry.

Gee, that's a lot of blog entry for something as simple as Google having a birthday graphic, isn't it? Well, never let it be said that I can't fill up several paragraphs talking about, basically, nothing.

A group of cats is a clowder. A group of ravens is a murder. A group of rats are a mischief. A group of lions are a pride. A group of geese is a gaggle.

And I've decided that a group of adolescent girls is a giggle. Next time you're in a mall somewhere and you see a little group of teenybopper girlies standing in a circle and chattering while peeking around constantly for boys they know and flicking their hair out of their eyes and tugging on their hipsters so their butts don't fall out, you'll remember that. A giggle of girls...

Well, I finally got around to upgrading my version of MT. Not that the previous version wasn't working or anything. I just thought it was time to do it. I was using version 2.11 and I just upgraded to version 2.64. So far I don't see much difference, but I haven't really done much exploration or anything. When/if I feel like investing some brainshare in looking at all the cool new whizbang features I might do that, but, well, at the moment I don't really care.

I expect that most people have gotten those spam messages which, instead of having a subject line, have an odd or unusual word to get your attention. The first time it happened to me I figured it was spam, but checked anyway to be sure. I don't fall for it any more, of course, because no one I know or anyone I woulddo business with sends me emails with a single, obscure word in the subject line.

Anyway, that being said, today in the spam filter was a piece of mail with a very interesting word for the subject line. I was so intrigued I looked it up in my handy American Heritage Dictionary (which I have installed on the hard drive, because I'd lose a real book dictionary if I had it in this mess that might have a desk under it).

Today's word is: catabolic, found in the dictionary by its noun form, ca·tab·o·lism. It means, The metabolic breakdown of complex molecules into simpler ones, often resulting in a release of energy.

So there you go. Spam is good for something, anyway. Or at least, this one was. And I still didn't open it to see the contents and I still reported it to the originating network, so there you go.

I really enjoy a discussion with opposing or at least different views. I'm not offended by people who view things differently. I'm not threatened by it. I like to consider other points of view, even if I don't adopt those views as my own.

But why the hell do people have to ARGUE all the time? Why can't people just engage in a simple conversation, discussion, whatever, without turning it into a damn argument? Why does someone have to be "right" and someone else "wrong"? Why does it matter at all when it's over points that don't even particularly matter?

I really, really don't like to argue. And I really hate it when people turn things that could be interesting and informative discussions into arguments. People just suck is all. Every now and then I forget that for a little while, but it doesn't take long for someone to remind me.

Well, it was certainly a migraine. I suspect the prolonged anxiety was just the pre-migraine phase. I feel better today after a fairly good night's rest, although I still feel a little bit... I can feel the "echo"of the pain, if that makes any sense. It's a bit like how you'll keep "hearing" a sound that's been around you a long time, even though the noise has stopped and you're not really hearing it any more.

Anyway, thankfully I feel much better now, and even more thankfully, I don't get migraines often at all. Whew.

I had a two-day anxiety attack. No idea what sparked it. They sometimes come with no reason that I can discern. Anxiety attacks are worse than panic attacks, IMHO, because while they're less immediately intense (a panic attack can feel like a heart attack!), they're more draining and difficult to cope with.

Anyway, I was awake WAY longer than I wanted to be, and at the end, I got a migraine. It's still with me, actually. I took two Panadeine Forte (quite strong pain medication with codeine) and two ibuprofen (yes, you can take all together and not overdose, I have that on medical authority) and I STILL hurt. I have a sort of "ghost" pain, and some lingering actual pain, as well. Uuuuggghhh.

Actually, writing this out, I'm wondering if maybe the anxiety attack is actually the precursor of the migraine, rather than the other way around... Lots of people have "pre-migraine" symptoms of various kinds. I wonder if the elevated anxiety is one of mine... I'll have to pay attention next time I get a migraine. Thankfully, I don't get them very often.

Weird thing is I never got migraines until I was in my thirties. And the older I get, the worse the migraines are (although no more frequent, thankfully).

Ugh. And now I'm nauseaus. Hooray. *sigh*

Awwww. Those poor, maligned spammers. People hate them, call them names (like, oh, "sleazy bastards"), sue them, it's just all so distressing. Good thing spammers can join a support group to help them when life is just so, so unfair. After all, what kind of mean, thoughtless person doesn't want their penis enlarged and their mortgage reduced? People are just SO mean...

Dunno what the unsolicited attachments were. Didn't save them to find out. Some people just aren't smart enough to figure out that not everyone reads their mail with an HTML and JavaScript enabled email program. Those attachments never got near my hard drive at all, let alone ran or played or whatever.

That address is now being filtered. It used to go to my inbox, but now it's going through Spamcop, which will make reporting the mail that much easier.

I've also banned a few IP addresses. Looking into banning IP addresses in Postfix, which is what we run on our server for mail (but I suspect the Spamcop will do the trick).

Since I didn't bother to investigate any of the attachments, I don't know if it's a particularly persistent spammer (I actually have encountered spammers of various sorts who send attachements for some reason) or if someone's got a vendetta (and no life whatsoever).

The thing is, either way I can keep them from pestering me. I own the whole server. I have complete control over my email addresses and I'm way, WAY more net savvy than the average person.

Gee, it's been a long time since I had a net.stalker.

Ever wonder about the sort of people behind certain kinds of internet scams? You may find this enlightening. I certainly found it hilarious (it's long, but do stick with it, because, IMHO, it's worth it).

Okay, who the hell sends 2.2Mb unsolicited attachments via email? What's up with THAT?

I got one today. No clue what it is. I read my mail (as I'm mentioned many times) in a Unix shell so it's not like the thing could run or anything. If I'd really wanted to know what it was, I would have had to save it to a directory on the server and either view it with a web browser (which I sometimes do with things I actually want to look at) or save it to the server and download it to my computer via FTP. Since I don't know and don't care what it is, I did neither.

The thing is that the address it came to is not one which commonly receives spam in it. It is one, however, that may be known to certain obnoxious persons who were recently pissed off when I responded to their rude and nasty email in kind. I hate to think that the person(s) in question truly have nothing better to do than sit around trying to think of ways to annoy me via email (heaven knows, I got some harassment from them and some of their snotty friends; I eventually had to resort to IP banning).

Then again, it could just be a spammer who managed to get the address (dunno how they'd do it, but I can think of a couple of ways that might be possible).

I hate spammers. And I hate 2.2Mb unsolicited attachments.

Happy birthday! I hope you have a wonderful one, and a great year.

Lately I have a lot of problems with my mind just suddenly going blank. I'll try to think of a word or name and while I can describe what I mean, I can't think of the actual word. Very frustrating, to say the least. I think it's mostly stress related, but maybe I'm just getting old.

Anyway, I was trying to think of a particular painter and couldn't recall the name. I could call up several of his paintings clearly, could describe them, etc., just couldn't pin down the name. As it happened, I was chatting with Andrew off and on in another window (because he's online and at a computer all day at work). Here's how the conversation went:

Me: What's that art noveau painter.... with the 3D faces and flat elements... Judith is one of his more famous works

Him: Klimt

Me: Thank you. Mind is going in my old age.

Him: Be very scared that I got it from that much information.

Well, I called the Immigration Department and it seems I have to send them a letter and tell them in writing not to misspell my name. Typical governmental stuff. They make a mistake (despite having loads of paperwork already filed with my correct name on it) and I have to tell them about it in writing.

So I've done that. My printer's not working, so I wrote it in plain text, emailed it to Andrew at work, he'll format it and print a few copies on the laser printer there, and bring the copies home for me to sign and put in an envelope. He'll post them for me tomorrow (because unlike the U.S., the postal service is only delivery here; you actually have to drop letters in a drop box because they won't pick them up from your own mailbox).

Some years ago when I lived in New York State (not the city), a friend of mine had a baby girl with a somewhat unusual but not at all unknown name. Some clerk at the records office misspelled the name and when the parents asked about it, they were told they'd have to submit a letter and various other paperwork to get it fixed. They did do it because the name was so badly misspelled it was a different name entirely, but it amazed me that they had to basically submit "name change" paperwork as if THEY had done something wrong, when it was actually the fault of some faceless typist in an office somewhere.

I guess government offices just need to have this stuff in hard copy with the files or it "doesn't count" or something.

Oh, well. So long as they get it right on the paperwork, I'll be content.

I sometimes wonder if they'll get it right on my death certificate, or my tombstone... "Here lies Bonnie" with a score mark over the "e" or something...