So this will be the last entry I make for 2005. I don't really care one way or the other about artificial deadlines and dividers of time, really, but it is a good milestone sort of marker.

Only have three thoughts at the moment.

One: It's BLOODY HOT!!!!

Two: The decade is half over already. What the hell happened there?!

Three: I guess I should mention that there are new desktop wallpaper downloads available in the Picture Gallery.

Andrew and I are doing our usual New Year's Eve thing, which is sitting at home watching hired DVDs and eating junk food (chips, mostly, as my husband went out and totally forgot to get the other stuff I told him to get *roll eyes*).

Anyway. Here's to the New Year.

The New York Observer is talking about the possible impeachment of George W. Bush.
So is Editor and Publisher. The Washington Post is also talking about it, and MSNBC is, as well. I haven't been talking about it much, but I'm certainly of the opinion that Bush's actions and blatant disregard of the law and Constituion is at least as impeachable as a sexual escapade in the Oval Office and lying about it after the fact.

Because the question remains:

"The Bush administration simply cannot answer this one question - if time was of the essence, why didn't they conduct the searches and get the warrants after the fact, something that is allowed under the FISA law? They conducted the searches alright, but they never once sought the retroactive warrants."

(And I need and want to give a big nod to the blog from which I got the above links and The Question.)

This little movie made me laugh so hard I had tears in my eyes.

Andrew got me d'artiste: Digital Painting, which is a book I've wanted for ages. I couldn't believe it when I unwrapped the package! I mean, I knew he'd gotten me a book, and I knew it was from the Technical Bookshop (aka geek paradise) not far from where he works, but I never would have guessed this. The books is excellent, in case anyone's wondering if they should get it. If it's within your means, get a copy. You won't regret it.

And I got myself something. It might as well have been from Andrew, but I always like to pick out my own jewelry, and I got it for a really good price (*snicker*). It's the middle one in the stack, the channel set stones in that nifty diagonal pattern. I normally don't care much for round stones, but the setting in this was so unusual, and it looks really good on my hand. My ring finger says, "Not only am I married, I'm really, really married, and I've been married long enough to have a reasonably impressive anniversary ring."

The kids got a ridiculous haul. I do mean ridiculous. They're the only grandchildren of my in-laws, and the only nieces of the two uncles, and, well, they got an absurd amount of stuff.

Andrew got a Mickey Mouse watch, and a very nice one. Genuine Disney, thankyou, and with a nifty looking domed crystal and 1940s styling that really suits him. He's not a fan of Disney-the-corporation, but he's a huge fan of Walt, and so that's what the watch is all about. I'm guessing it'll get him a lot of smiles and comments, too. It's pretty good as watches go.

And now I'm going to go read some more of my excellent new digital painting book, and sigh and wish that I was worthy to read the tutorials of the artists in this book, but, alas, compared to them, I am a rank amateur (speaking of which, my latest book cover is in the gallery at elizabyte now if you want to go have a look). I can only aspire and dream of being as good as these folks... *siiiigh* Oh, well. At least I've got nice jewelry...

President Bush was visiting a primary school. One of the classes was in the middle of a discussion related to words and their meanings. The teacher asked the president if he would like to lead the discussion of the word "tragedy." So the illustrious leader asked the class for an example of a tragedy.

Little Jimmy stood up and offered. "If my bestfriend, Johnny, who lives on a farm, were playing in the field and a tractor ran him over and killed him,that would be a tragedy."

"No," said Bush, "that would be an accident."

Little Suzie raised her hand: "If a school bus carrying 50 children drove over a cliff, killing everyone inside, that would be a tragedy."

"I'm afraid not,' explained the president. "That's what we would call a great loss."

The room went silent. No other children volunteered. Bush searched the room. "Isn't there someone here who can give me an example of tragedy?"

Finally at the back of the room little Johnny raised his hand. In a quiet voice he said: "If Air Force One carrying Mr. and Mrs. Bush was struck by a "friendly fire" missile and blown to smithereens, that would be a tragedy."

"That's right!" exclaimed Bush. "Can you tell me why that would be a tragedy?

"Well," says little Johnny, "it has to be a tragedy, because it certainly wouldn't be a great loss and it probably wouldn't be an accident either."

In a sharp rebuke, a federal appeals court denied Wednesday a Bush administration request to transfer terrorism suspect Jose Padilla from military to civilian law enforcement custody.
[...]
The decision, written by Judge Michael Luttig, questioned why the administration used one set of facts before the court for 3 1/2 years to justify holding Padilla without charges but used another set to convince a grand jury in Florida to indict him last month.
 
Luttig said the administration has risked its "credibility before the courts" by appearing to use the indictment of Padilla to thwart an appeal of the appeals court's decision that gave the president wide berth in holding enemy combatants.

I just got a book cover accepted on the FIRST submission! Normally I get one or more revision requests (anything from very minor to repainting large bits of it), but this time, for this book, I got it the first time I sent a final. WOOT!

I don't mind doing revisions, for what it's worth, and if they ask for enough of them, I get revision pay, but I've always wanted to do a cover and get it in one. Heh.

Saw this in someone else's blog (you know who you are *wink*) and thought I'd play, too.

(x) Pirates of the Caribbean
( ) Boondock Saint
( ) The Mexican
(x) Fight Club
(x) Starsky and Hutch
(x) Neverending Story
(x) Blazing Saddles
( ) Garden State
(x) The Princess Bride
(x) Young Frankenstien
(x) AnchorMan
( ) Napoleon Dynamite
( ) Saw
( ) White noise
( ) White Oleander
( ) Anger Management

total here: 8

(x) 50 First Dates
( ) Jason
(x) Scream
( ) Scream 2
( ) Scream 3
( ) Scary Movie
( ) Scary Movie 2
( ) Scary Movie 3
( ) American Pie
( ) American Pie 2
( ) American Wedding
(x) Harry Potter
(x) Harry Potter 2
( ) Harry Potter 3
( ) Resident Evil I
( ) Resident Evil 2
(x) The Wedding Singer
( ) Little Black Book

total here: 5

( ) The Village
( ) Donnie Darko
(x) Lilo & Stitch
(x) Finding Nemo
(x) Finding Neverland
( ) 13 Ghosts
( ) Signs
(x) The Grinch
( ) Texas Chainsaw Massacre
(x) White Chicks
( ) Butterfly Effect
( ) Thirteen going on 30
(x) I, Robot
(x) Dodgeball
( ) Universal Soldier
(x) A Series Of Unfortunate Events
( ) Along Came A Spider
( ) Deep impact

total here: 8

( ) KingPin
(x) Never Been Kissed
(x) Meet The Parents
( ) Meet the Fockers
( ) Eight Crazy Nights
( ) A Cinderella Story
( ) The Terminal
( ) The Lizzie McGuire Movie
( ) Passport to Paris
( ) Dumb & Dumber
( ) Dumb & Dumberer
( ) Final Destination
( ) Final Destination 2
(x) Halloween
( ) The Ring
( ) The Ring 2
( ) Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle
( ) Practical Magic
(x) Chicago
( ) Ghost Ship
(x) From Hell
( ) Hellboy
( ) Secret Window
( ) I Am Sam
(x) The Whole Nine Yards (the original)
( ) The Whole Ten Yards
( ) The Day After Tomorrow
( ) Child's Play
( ) Bride of Chucky
(x) Ten Things I Hate About You
( ) Just Married
( ) Gothika
( ) Nightmare on Elm Street
(x) Sixteen Candles
( ) Bad Boys
( ) Bad Boys 2
( ) Joy Ride
( ) Seven (SE7EN)
(x) Oceans Eleven
(x) Oceans Twelve
( ) Identity

total here: 10

( ) Lone Star
( ) Predator I
( ) Predator II
(x) Independence day
(x) Cujo
( ) A Bronx Tale
( ) Darkness Falls
(x) Christine
(x) ET
(x) Children of the Corn
( ) My boss' daughter
(x) Maid in Manhattan
( ) Frailty
( ) Best bet
( ) How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
( ) She's All That
( ) Calendar Girls
(x) Sideways
(x) Mars Attacks

total here: 8

( ) Event Horizon
( ) Ever after
(x) Forrest Gump
(x) Big Trouble in Little China
(x) X-men 1
( ) X2
(x) Catch Me If You Can
(x) The Others
(x) Freaky Friday (both of them, heh)
( ) Ring of Fire
( ) The Hot Chick
( ) Swimfan
( ) Miracle
( ) Old School
( ) Ray
( ) The Notebook
( ) K-Pax

total here : 6

(x) Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
(x) Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
(x) Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
( ) A Walk to Remember
( ) Boogeyman
( ) Hitch
( ) Back Door Sluts 9
( ) Anal Acres 1
( ) Anal Acres 2
( ) B-Cup Divas
( ) The Fifth Element
(x) Star Wars episode I The Phantom Menace
(x) Star Wars episode II Attack of The Clones
(x) Star Wars episode III Revenge of The Sith
(x) Star Wars episode IV A New Hope
(x) Star Wars episode V The Empire Strikes Back
(x) Star Wars episode VI Return of The Jedi...
(x) Troop Beverly Hills
( ) Swimming with Sharks
(x) Air Force One
( ) For Richer or Poorer
( ) Trainspotting
( ) People under the stairs
( ) Blue Velvet
(x) Sound of music
(x) Parent Trap (both of them)
( ) The Burbs
(x) The Terminator
( ) Empire Records
( ) SLC Punk
( ) Meet Joe Black
( ) Wild girls
(x) Clockwork Orange
( ) the Order
(x) Spiderman
(x) Spiderman 2
(x) Amelie

total here: 18

(x) Mean Girls
(x) Shrek
(x) Shrek 2
(x) The Incredibles
( ) Collateral
( ) The Fast & The Furious
( ) 2 Fast 2 Furious
(x) Sky Captain Of The World Of Tomorrow
( ) Closer

total here: 5

(x) Titanic
( ) Saved
( ) Bowling For Columbine
( ) Farenheit 9/11
(x) The Sixth Sense
(x) Artificial intelligence (also known as AI)
(x) Love actually
( ) Shutter
( ) Ella Enchanted
(x) Princess diaries 1
( ) Princess diaries 2
( ) Constantine
( ) Million Dollar Baby
( ) Envy
( ) Eurotrip
( ) Malibu's Most wanted
( ) Big Daddy
( ) Black Sheep
(x) The Breakfast Club
(x) West side story

total here : 7

(x) A Christmas Story
( ) Spanglish
(x) Pulp Fiction
( ) Sleepover
( ) Evil Dead
( ) Killer Klowns From Outer Space
( ) The Seed of chucky
( ) Vanilla Sky
(x) Nightmare Before Christmas
(x) Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind
(x) Interview With The Vampire
(x) The Crow
( ) Purple Rain
( ) Reservoir Dogs
(x) Wayne's World

total here: 7

(x) Wayne's World 2
( ) 21 Grams
( ) Blow
(x) Edward Scissorhands
( ) Clerks
(x) Beauty and the Beast
( ) Guess who
( ) monster in-law
(x) Elf
(x) Stuart little
( ) stuart little 2
(x) Mall Rats
(x) Chasing Amy
(x) Dogma
( ) Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back

total here: 8

(x) Beetlejuice
( ) The Last Samurai
( ) The Amityville Horror (old or new)
(x) The Aviator
(x) Romeo and Juliet
( ) Barbershop
( ) Beauty Shop
(x) legally blonde
( ) legally blonde 2
( ) the forgotten
( ) confessions of a teenage drama queen
( ) the grudge

total here: 4

TOTAL: 94

Not too bad....

A child porn suspect turned himself in to the police after mistaking an email generated by a prolific internet worm for an official notice he was under investigation.

Well, the holiday season always makes me a bit crazy. I've been running around doing kid parties for a while (two different parties for Zoë, two different parties for Miranda, and that's just the school/playgroup stuff, and doesn't include the family parties and gatherings!). Today was the last of those, thank goodness, so I can have a bit of a relax, for a couple days at least.

I've also been busy setting up a new business venture. It's hard to explain how/why I got into this, but I thought I'd give it a try and see how I go with it. My feeling is that so long as I can make 10% profit (and certainly, I expect to make more than that!), I'll be beating any interest we could get, so that's okay. Certainly, it's more work than just stuffing money in the bank and letting it gain interest, but it's also more fun, so it evens out.

And what is this business venture? Selling jewelry, believe it or not. I've always liked jewelry and I know a fair bit about jewelry, and well, what the heck, why not give it a try, right?

Oh, and remember a while back I got some weird mail to one of my webring sites from someone looking for a copy of the ring Prince Charles gave to Camilla Parker-Bowles for their engagement? Funnily enough, I now have a Camilla-lookalike ring in stock and for sale...

The name of the company we're setting up is Uncommon Touch, although we'll probably just register a business number so that we can operate with different business identities for different things (we've never actually registered the Alicorna business, although of course, I do have an Australian Business Number and all that other necessary stuff).

So, that's what's kept me occupied, pretty much. Sell you a diamond ring, cheap... ?

We went out yesterday to the city to Andrew's office Christmas party. I walked rather more than usual, and my feet and ankles are killing me today, but I got some really good photographs while we were out, and I put them in the Picture Gallery.

Months after the Sept. 11 attacks, President Bush secretly authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans and others inside the United States to search for evidence of terrorist activity without the court-approved warrants ordinarily required for domestic spying, according to government officials.

The U.S. Senate on Friday rejected attempts to reauthorize several provisions of the nation’s top anti-terror law as infringing too much on Americans’ privacy, dealing a major defeat to President Bush and Republican leaders.

I've used PayPal for years now, and never had a problem with them. I'm about to start using them more because of a particular business venture, and as such, I had my bank account "tested" (they put in a desposit and you tell them how much it was so that you can "prove" it's you or something). Well, the deposit failed for NO GOOD REASON, because the account is definitely valid and the information was correct. What this means is that I can't deposit anything from my PayPal account to my bank account now...

Anyway, they say to send a fax with ID and a photocopy of bank statement (with the deposits on it, but if I never got the deposits how the hell can I show that?!). Sent fax with ID and copy of bank statement to prove the account was valid. Fine. No problem. Except that it's still banned. Sent an email. No reply. Went to look up phone number and the only thing offered, even though we go through ebay.com.au, is a U.S. toll free number that can't be used outside the United States (brilliant, eh?). After a couple of class action suits against them, you'd think they'd stop pulling crap on people, y'know?). Anyway, I have tracked down some valid U.S. telephone numbers that we can try, and if they don't respond satisfactorily, we'll be calling. And if I STILL don't get satisfaction, I'm going to have to stop using PayPal entirely, I guess. I hate to do that, as it's quite convienient on many levels, but if I want to get my money I should be able to, y'know?

EDIT: Well, I found the Australian contact information, woohoo. They're in Sydney, in case anyone wondered.

I just got an unexpected bonus from the publisher for whom I do book covers. Yay! (Note that that site is an adult-themed site as it's a publisher of erotic romance, so proceed with caution.)

I also got, a week or so ago, and unexpected gift from another company with whom I work, a rather beautifully illustrated Christmas book.

There are a couple other companies with which I work (hey, such is the life of a freelancer, y'know?), but so far no bonuses there. I don't expect them, of course (otherwise they wouldn't be "bonus", right?), but maybe there will be some special little treat from one or more of them...

'Tis the season to get bonuses, eh?

You familiar with the Weird Al song to the tune of I Want It That Way about eBay? No? Well, you should really hear it for full impact, but you can read the lyrics and hum the tune (assuming you know it...

I feel that way sometimes, lately...

A bug in Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser gives phishers a way to scan the hard drives of Google Desktop users, according to an Israeli hacker. Because of a flaw in the way IE processes Web pages, a malicious Web site could use the attack to steal sensitive information like credit card numbers or passwords from the hard drives of its visitors.

(Yet another reason to switch to Firefox, if you haven't already.)

A few months ago, I heard about the report published by Salon (and others) about how mercury in vaccines causes autism. As the parent of an autistic child, I was naturally interested, and this was, indeed, the first time I'd heard this particular theory, so I started to do research.

In the process, I found a number of blogs that I continue to read to this day (and to which this blog is linked), so that was a good thing. I also did a great deal of research into the mercury/autism thing and eventually felt I could safely discount it (i.e., there's a great deal of evidence that the theory is not correct, and almost no supporting scientific evidence for it, plus the people who most strongly support this theory appear to have vested interests such as bringing lawsuits, selling books, getting donations, and making a profit selling "cures"). I was particularly convinced when I checked Zoë's vaccination records and found that, indeed, there were no thimerisol vaccines used (it was discontinued in vaccines in Australia before she was born, pretty much).

ANYway, I have since fallen right down the rabbit hole with regard to groups of people who believe one or another strange theory and/or pseudoscience and base campaigns on it or otherwise make life decisions that could (and sometimes have) proved dangerous and even fatal. I'm a pretty well educated person, but honestly, I had no idea that there were so many fringe groups with bizarre beliefs centered on pseudoscience and what appeasrs to be outright mumbojumbo. people who deny certain diseases are real, people who insist that diseases or conditions are "caused" by one or another random thing, people who believe that incurable diseases and conditions can be "cured" by various odd means, all sorts of folks who adhere to all sorts of strange "alternative" rituals and such, and a good portion of them adhere to some sort of conspiracy theory or theories in the bargain. It's truly bizarre.

I've known for a long time that the majority of people can't or won't make the effort to reason something out or to examine evidence logically, but I really am kind of shellshocked to see the vast numbers of presumably otherwise reasonable people who are part of some anti-this or conspiracy-that group dealing with medicine and cures and, well, snake oil and miracle tonics.

I'm not sure I wanted to know about these people, actually. Oh, if only I'd taken the blue pill...