Now you can challenge Darth Vader to read your mind! Okay, it's basically just 20 questions, but I found it fun. The first time, Lord Vader did, indeed, guess what I was thinking of, but the second time, he didn't! The Force is with me!

The thing that disturbed me was that the Burger King came in a couple of times to whisper to Darth Vader. I knew it! I knew that Burger King was in league with evil, but this clenches it! (Actually, I'd be less surprised to see Ronald McDonald in league with evil, but that's beside the point.)

Oh, you do need Flash to challege Darth Vader, and if you have sound on, it's just that much more amusing. May The Force be with you.

I'm a major geek (with a score of 37.08087%). And I'll just bet that everyone's REALLY surprised by that, too...

Amnesty International branded the U.S. prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a human rights failure Wednesday, releasing a 308-page report that offers stinging criticism of the United States and its detention centers around the world.
 
"Guantanamo has become the gulag of our time," Amnesty Secretary General Irene Khan said as the London-based group launched its annual report. Amnesty International called for the camp to be closed.

The U.S. House of Representatives on Monday voted to establish new penalties for purveyors of Internet "spyware" that disables users' computers and secretly monitors their activities.

Scientists have developed a system which enables people to stroke a chicken over the internet.

Andrew and I saw Revenge of the Sith on Friday night. I enjoyed it, generally speaking, but found a lot of holes in the story (like just about everyone else in the galaxy). Emotionally, it was fairly satisfying. Intellectually it was... well, Star Wars has never been really, you know, deep. It's brain candy. I enjoyed munching it, even if I understood that it was going to rot some part of my mind. I didn't, at least, come out of the theatre thinking, "Well, there's two and a half hours of my life that I'm never going to get back."

ANYway, I thought about writing a review type thingy, but then didn't because that's not really my "thing". And beside, another blog did it so much better and more entertainingly (review contains spoilers, just so you know).

I had to check the archives for this category (Listening to...). I see I've listed a few twice (usually a long time apart), but I haven't got Andy Gibb there at all. That kinda surprised me, but then, I don't actually listen to this CD all that often, despite the fact that...

Okay, I'll confess. I had an almost obsessive crush on Andy Gibb when I was young (13, 14, that age). He was just so damned cute, with the wavy hair and the oh-so-very-hairy chest and the tight-tight satin pants (oh, yeah, I noticed stuff like that when I was that age, and I still do). Despite singing in a falsetto a lot of the time, he was pretty damned male, and that has always appealed to me.

I had, at one point, 147 pitures of Andy Gibb on the walls of my bedroom. Small pictures, posters, in-between sizes, but 147 of them (I know because I counted them once). My walls were practically papered with Andy Gibb and his hairy chest and toothy smile.

I did outgrow that, by the way. I haven't got even one picture of Andy Gibb any more (of course, he's been dead since 1988, so that kinda limits the photo opportunities). But I do have this CD. And I'm listening to it. And he just wants to be my everything, and oh, yeah, I would have gone for that...

It did make me sad when he died, by the way. It was like a little stab in the heart. Still makes me sad, actually. A young man full of promise, who had finally started to really get his life on track, and, boom, dead of heart failure at the age of thirty. Not a very happy ending.

Ah, well. Such is life. I still love you, Andy. Love is higher than a mountain, love is thicker than water...

Ah, we got an everlasting love
So tall, so wide, so high
Above the rumble of thunder down below
It's your love I need,
It's the only show
And it's you want an everlasting dream
Can take us anywhere are the tears of yesterday
We killed the pain,
We blew away the memories
Of the tears we cried
And an everlasting love will never die

A life-like prosthetic penis called the Whizzinator and other products promising to help illegal drug users pass urine tests provoked U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday to take legal action with subpoenas of manufacturers.
 
Lawmakers objected to attempts to circumvent drug tests with products such as The Whizzinator, a fake penis that can provide a flow of clean urine "again and again, anytime, anywhere you need it!" according to the Web site www.whizzinator.com.

(And, because I know you want to, here's a link to the Whizzinator website.)

A 3-year-old boy upset that his mother wouldn't let him use a crane vending machine to try to win a small stuffed animal took matters in his own hands. He climbed up the chute to get the prize himself.
 
Danielle Manges said she took her eyes off her son, James, for a moment to pick up a juice bottle he threw. When she looked up, he was in with the plush toys.

(This sounds very like something Zoë would do...)

There are a few new pictures in the gallery if you want to have a peek.

Google Ads sometimes totally mystify me. Sometimes, they're uncannily good, and I've found really useful stuff by following Google Ad links. But sometimes they're just WEIRD, you know?

The ads that appear way down at the bottom of this page are interesting, because they change depending on what I've been writing about, and apparently, if I haven't been writing about anything that keys more interesting ads, it defaults to "Personals" and "BBW" stuff.

Now, yes, I am a BBW, and this is a personal weblog, but I just don't think that very many of my visitors are actually looking for that sort of thing, y'know?

Okay, then, so to get some better ads on the page, uhm....

Unicorns, art, chocolate, coffee, cats, fibromyalgia, autism, literature, marriage, monogamy, butterflies, and uh... stock photography. Let's see how that works, eh?

The following cautionary tale must surely rate in the top five of "most embarrassing things that can happen to you in public - ever". According to UK tabloid the Sun, a 33-year-old Welsh housewife ended up in hospital after wearing Ann Summers vibrating Passion Pants to her local Asda supermarket in Swansea.
 
Unfortunately, she became "so aroused by the 2½-inch vibrating bullet inside that she fainted" then "fell against shelves and banged her head". This prompted the attendance of the paramedics who "found the black leatherette panties still buzzing". Having disabled the orgasmatronic underwear, they then whisked the senseless shopper to hospital where she made a complete recovery. Staff handed her back the Passion Pants upon discharge, discreetly concealed in a plastic bag.

I have to admit, I've always had a real fascination with mythology and legends and suchlike. Imagine my delight upon discovering Godchecker. Fascinating stuff, and a real time waster. (As it happens I found the site by doing a search for Priapus, the Greek god of fertility; quite a story, that...)

Went to the doctor today and got a diagnosis on the foot. I apparently have plantar fasciitis, which is, basically, a kind of tendonitis that you get in your foot. (That's not exactly precise, but close enough.)

I've got some prescription anti-inflammatory medicine (something I've never had or heard of before, meloxicam, which has some very scary sounding side effects which, I was assured, are not all that common and tend to only last a few days), and the polite comment that being overweight will aggravate the condition (which I already knew and, as a matter of fact, have been working on, but that's a post for another day).

Other advice was to get myself a good pair of supportive shoes without soft soles that will compress and put pressure on the arches, use shoe inserts if it makes me feel do some calf-stretching exercises, and use ice if I've been on my feet and have a lot of pain (I prefer hot water with epsom salt, personally, but the doctor thought ice was better in this case).

If it doesn't get better in a reasonable amount of time, I'm to come back and I'll be referred to a physiotherapist who can show me how to tape it (actually, I can get that info on the net if I really want) or show me some exercises or motions to improve the situation.

So, it seems that tomorrow I'll be shopping for shoes, among other things.

The latest quote for the collection:

Well, the miracle of the healing foot was apparently only temporary. As soon as the shoes started to "break in", the pain started to come back, which makes me think there's some sort of odd structural thing going on with my foot. The pain is now mostly in the heel rather than being in the arch, as well, and it's not as severe as it was, but it's definitely back.

So I'm going to give in and go to the doctor on Friday and see what they say. They may refer me to a specialist or something, I dunno. Probably send me to get xrays or some sort of pictures of the soft tissues or something, and tell me to take anti-inflammatories in the meantime (which I do already).

If this was in both feet, I'd think it was my weight causing problems, but in fact, it's only in the one foot, so I dunno what to think. Granted, getting rid of some of the weight would probably help, but that's a longterm solution, not a short term one...

Okay, so for those of you who enjoy reading my rants, there's a new one on the Rantsome site.

Several months ago, I hurt my foot. I don't entirely know what I did, but it was hurting and I thought it might help if I got the foot massager thingy. By "foot massager thingy" I mean this little contraption with several wooden rollers on it, against which you rub your feet.

So, I got the foot massager thingy and I guess I was a little too rough or had my foot at a bad angle or something, because it got WORSE. I mean, significantly worse. Walking with a very pronounced limp worse. At the time I said, while wincing and making those "Damn, this is painful" faces, "It feels like something's out of place in my foot."

Well, the pain continued off and on for months, sometimes worse, sometimes better. Walking made it worse. The pain could often be soothed by soaking my feet (might as well do them both, and besides, when one foot hurts, the other does more work, so that one hurt a lot, too) in hot water with epsom salt, but it never really got better in any major way, and I was limping and wincing a LOT.

I tried two different kinds of orthopedic shoe inserts, which helped some, various pain relievers, etc., and it was just not getting better. I was seriously thinking it was time to go to a podiatrist.

Late last week, I went out on the spur of the afternoon with my in-laws. My mother-in-law was looking for a pair of athletic shoes, and KMart had ladies athletic shoes for 20% off. I thought perhaps a different pair of shoes would help my foot, and I got a decent pair of sturdy ones, put the shoe inserts in, and put them on. Almost miraculously, my foot started to feel better. I wore the shoes all afternoon (rather than putting on my house slippers), hoping it would relieve some of the pain.

Well, it did more than that. It appears that whatever was out of place in my foot snapped or slid or popped back where it belonged, probably in response to the newer, more supportive shoes (in combination with the inserts, perhaps). My foot is actually healing now, finally, after all these months. It's still a little bit tender, but it's definitely healing and there's no more limp.

The sudden absence of pain is quite noticible. Every time I get up to walk, I brace myself for pain but there really isn't any. It's very strange and extremely pleasant.

Praise the Lord! I can walk!

I tend not to take myself too seriously. I also tend not to take most other stuff too seriously. I just always see the humor in most situations, even very bad ones (my ability to do this has enabled me to survive some pretty horrible stuff, for what it's worth).

And you know something that really kinda ticks me off? People who take themselves and their ideas too seriously, to the point that they can't see or appeciate when someone else makes a joke. I mean, okay, be as damned stiff and serious as you want, it's no skin off my nose, but when dealing with others, can you just take a moment to LIGHTEN UP?! Sheesh.

Just had to get that off my chest.

I always loved the Body Shop's bergamot body wash. It was like taking a shower in Sprite or something, really refreshing (although, really, showering in Sprite wouldn't be refreshing, but showering in something that smelled like it would be, and that's what this stuff smelled like).

Then they changed the formula a couple of years ago for some unknown reason, and it was for the worse, in my opinion. I still used it because it was okay smelling, but it wasn't the bright, citrus smell that I like.

Finally, they changed it back, and, well, it's good. Better than the other one, anyway. (I guess other people agreed with me that the previous formula was better, eh?)

This, by the way, doesn't really have much to do with anything, except to demonstrate that sometimes even really little things can make a person happy, y'know?

Oh, didn't you know I had an erotic art site? Well, I do. And it's finally back online after an absence of a couple of weeks (the regular digital art site isn't back yet, though).

As for why I have an erotic art site, well, sex and art kinda go together (like drugs and rock and roll). I've got a long interest in erotic art, and I don't mean porn (yuck, I can't stand commercial porn, as it's stupid and boring, and sometimes unintentionally comical). I mean stuff like phallus symbols and goddess figures and rude designs on Greek pottery and sexually suggestive statues and stuff like that. People have been making pictures of sex and sexy people since they could scribble on a cave wall with a lump of coal. Art and sex are both powerful magics, why shouldn't I be interested? (And, another hint, I love history, I love art, therefore I love art history. You can work out the rest.)

I started the site because I wanted to do a few images that were a little too racy for my regular site (which I limit to strictly non-sexual nudity). There's nothing hardcore on it, but some stuff is... well, for mature audiences, let's say.

So, if you're mature (or think you are), you're welcome to go around and have a look. Don't say you weren't warned (and you do have to register and log in if you want to look at the gallery).

Spam title:

Can you afford to ignore SmallCaps?

I've just discovered that not one mailform anywhere on the server is working. *&$%#@$!!!!!

When the server was compromised last month, Andrew made some big changes on the server, including setting Apache to run in a chroot jail (if you have no clue what that means, uhm, don't worry too much, but basically, the web part is now in its own little "capsule" so if someone manages to get in that way, they can't get anywhere else on the server). As a result of that, a bunch of stuff is broken. Stuff like MySQL (which is now outside the jail) and now, it seems, the mail server. Oh, the mail server is WORKING. It's just not working from inside the jail, as far as I can tell.

So, well, if you've sent me mail through a mailform and never got a reply, it wasn't rudeness on my part. I never got it. Heaven only knows how many messages have been lost in the mists of cyberspace. There's no way to track it at all as far as I know. And yeah, I'm kicking myself for not checking this sooner, but I had no reason to think there would be a problem (that's what I get for listening to Andrew *grumble*).

Well, I thought I was feeling better, but not really. I still have chills that come and go, and right at the moment my face is really hot. I dunno if it's a mild hot flash (not that I'm menopausal, but I'm peri-menopausal, and I do get hot flashes sometimes) or if I'm slightly feverish or what. Thankfully, the sinus stuffiness and the sneezing and coughing are gone now.

Glad I'm only experiencing the "mini" version of this flu. I'd really hate to have the real thing!

I've been trying to install some government software so that I can do business online with the Australian Taxation Office (just basic stuff, nothing complicated).

The software, however, is a huge pain in the arse. First, it requires me to set IE6+ or NS7.1 as my default browser. Now, I have both installed, but I definitely don't want either set as my default. Unfortunately, the software apparently won't install withou that. Grrr.

Next, it requires Java. Well, I have Java installed, naturally, but when I go to get the digital certificate thingy it says that the Java isn't compatible. Turns out that the latest version (Java 1.5) isn't compatible. You have to use an OLDER version. Double grrr.

So now I've just uninstalled all my Java installations and I'm going to have to reboot so that I can install an OLDER version of my software, just so that I can go online and look up my tax file number and other mundane stuff.

I swear, government software is as bad as government paperwork!

[EDIT] After much frustration and reinstallation and so forth, I never did get it to work. I finally just called them and got my Tax File Number, and I'll proceed from there. Bleah.

The police repeatedly tortured prisoners, State Department officials wrote, noting that the most common techniques were "beating, often with blunt weapons, and asphyxiation with a gas mask." Separately, international human rights groups had reported that torture in Uzbek jails included boiling of body parts, using electroshock on genitals and plucking off fingernails and toenails with pliers. Two prisoners were boiled to death, the groups reported. The February 2001 State Department report stated bluntly, "Uzbekistan is an authoritarian state with limited civil rights."
[...]
Now there is growing evidence that the United States has sent terror suspects to Uzbekistan for detention and interrogation, even as Uzbekistan's treatment of its own prisoners continues to earn it admonishments from around the world, including from the State Department.
[...]
Craig Murray, a former British ambassador to Uzbekistan, said he learned during his posting to Tashkent that the C.I.A. used Uzbekistan as a place to hold foreign terrorism suspects. During 2003 and early 2004, Mr. Murray said in an interview, "C.I.A. flights flew to Tashkent often, usually twice a week."
[...]
General Myers said the United States had "benefited greatly from our partnership and strategic relationship with Uzbekistan."

Got a flu shot Friday morning, and starting to get flulike symptoms by that evening. Felt sick all day yesterday. Today I feel better physically, although I have a headache that won't go away and I'm feeling emotionally pretty unstable. Bleah.