[rape, murder, you have been warned.]
There's a reason that I don't like Law and Order, a reason I don't usually watch it. For some reason I made an exception today and it was a huge mistake.
The story is this:
Two rich families are about to create a merger through marriage. Because if you're rich that's what marriage is for. The youngest child of one of the families is raped and murdered.
First there is an attempt to frame the limo driver.
Then it comes up that the sons of the family that doesn't include the victims committed (statutory) rape by having sex with the victim. They're suspected.
Then it comes up that the member of the victims family getting married had a fight with the victim. Before she can even be suspected the whole family comes in, says she did it, but it's her medications to blame and tries to plea for a much reduced sentence at a mental hospital.
Then investigation shows she didn't do it and it turns out that her mother did it.
See, rich family secrets. They never could live with the shame of their daughter getting pregnant at 14 and so treated their granddaughter as their daughter, keeping her away from their daughter (I think boarding school might have been involved) for much of her life. Having her daughter stolen from her might have contributed to the bride to be's need to be on medication.
So the mother convinced the daughter that she killed her own daughter. This was so the mother would never be suspected of murder. And why the murder? Before daughter was getting married she decided to tell her daughter the truth of their relationship. Mother/grandmother didn't want that getting out because shame and so killed her.
Then comes the other family, the family of the groom who is having sex with someone else and isn't at all concerned about the marriage as a marriage because it's a merger.
They claim they witnessed everything, it's dumped as self defense and everyone gets away with everything.
---
I'm going to take a moment of "What the fuck?" here.
Take the parents of the groom's family at their words. Get it in writing first. Explain that there's a problem where people say one thing in the station and something else in the courtroom and get them to sign sworn statements that they witnessed the killing. They're not asking for any kind of immunity so don't give it to them.
Take them to court for obstruction of justice and taking part in multiple framings.
When the limo driver was being framed they did what the people framing him wanted them to do and kept quiet even though they claim to have seen the murder and known he was innocent.
When their own sons were suspects (they don't deny their sons committed rape, by the way) they did what the murderer wanted them to do and kept quiet.
When the bride was being framed by her mother they knew that she was innocent but refused to say anything. Why? They said it themselves: they wanted to help killer.
If they didn't see the killing then they're trying to cover up a murder by making it look like self defense. If they did see the killing then they were participants in two separate attempts to frame innocent people. Either way they're trying to help a killer get away with it. That, in itself, is illegal.
They should go to jail.
Their sons undeniably committed statutory rape. They should go to jail.
The person who framed the limo driver should go to jail. I came in late enough that I'm not sure who it was.
The murderer, matriarch of the bride's family, tried to frame her daughter to the point of telling her daughter and her husband that she saw the daughter do it and convincing the daughter to confess. That's enough to send her to jail. Add to that, in a separate trial because the murder and framing were separate acts, that she committed murder and she should go to jail with two sentences.
If people buy that it was self defense then she still has to go to jail because framing someone a killing you committed is illegal even if the killing itself was legal. But the only reason that people would buy that it was self defense is if they believed the first people I mentioned who by the time of her trial should be in jail for covering up the very killing they claim is self defense.
They should go down first. Of everyone who actually committed a crime, they're the only ones to confess. They admitted to knowing who did it and refusing to tell until that person was already a suspect thus participating in two separate attempts to frame innocent people.
Which means that the guy who pulled the DAs off the case was wrong, they're not impeccable witnesses. Who is going to believe someone who is in prison for covering up (twice!) the very crime they're testifying about?
Sunday, September 29, 2013
Friday, September 27, 2013
If you want to buy any Amazon things through me do it now.
Specifically before or on October 6th.
I'm somewhat fuzzy on whether or not my agreement allows me to give you details of why, but the agreement becomes void on the 6th so, if anyone is interested, I can definitely tell you on the 7th. Until then, if you want me to get a cut of your Amazon purchases use the search box on the upper right hand side of the page to make them. And do it soon.
I'm somewhat fuzzy on whether or not my agreement allows me to give you details of why, but the agreement becomes void on the 6th so, if anyone is interested, I can definitely tell you on the 7th. Until then, if you want me to get a cut of your Amazon purchases use the search box on the upper right hand side of the page to make them. And do it soon.
Thursday, September 26, 2013
Marvel's Agent of Shield, impressions written down as things were happening.
Impressions of Marvel's Agent of Shield (spoilers of course, though quotes are probably not exact):
A woman doing voice over.
So far the only characters other than her with speaking parts are a black man and his son. Perhaps this won't be as white as feared. And he's a superhero.
-
White guy fights people.
-
Agent Hill. I like agent Hill.
White guy who fights people: "I'm clearance level six, I know Agent Coulson died before the battle of New York."
Agent Coulson walks out of the darkness. "Welcome to level seven." Beat. "I'm sorry. I couldn't help myself. The corner was dark and... I think there's a light out."
Shepard Book is in the show. A doctor in this incarnation.
-
"With great power comes... a ton of weird crap that you are not prepared to deal with."
-
"You're really just asking me to drive the bus?"
Coulson "I'm not asking. But it's a really nice bus."
-
So far I count 4 women and 5 men as characters. That's a Firefly ratio. Of course there's no way to tell whether they'll stay in the series and so far no woman has spoken to any other woman. Random white guy who fights has spoken to both Coulson and the tech support team which includes a guy.
-
Hey women do talk to each other in this show. It only took half an hour.
It took less time than that for them to kidnap someone with the black bag and everything.
-
Coulson just injected his own guy with a truth serum and is letting the person he kidnapped interrogate him [the guy Coulson injected, not Coulson himself] so that she'd be able to judge for herself if they were evil or not. Which is seven kinds of wrong but also a fun way to get someone to trust you if you take into account that it's a fictional world where not everything is meant to be taken seriously.
-
And fuck. Black guy played by Gunn from Angel is definitely not going to turn out to be a regular on this show after a scene like that. I mean there are ways, but that's generally not how you introduce a regular.
Which drops us to 8 people who may be sticking around with equal representation between genders but the question of whiteness is still... yeah. Because of those eight Shepherd Book and Maria Hill look like they'll be in the background, meaning that of the main six there's definitely a lighter skin tone even if not strictly Caucasian.
-
And if Shield doesn't find a miracle it's going to turn out that the black guy does die first.
-
And we're having a decent, "The American dream turned out to be a lie," speech.
-
And the black guy died first.
Wait. No. But he's still not going to stick with the show.
Coulson's car is from Back to the Future.
-
And as a final note, I stopped recording too early. I didn't miss anything of great value, just the next time bit and the credits that ran concurrently, but I record the credits as a matter of principle.
I thought the "Mutant Enemy" thing ran after everything else was done.
----
And, also, the lone hacker who can punch through any security system with a laptop ze won on a bet is, in fact, someone with superhero level powers. She'll be a regular. The show has:
Agent Coulson: Badass Bureaucrat who, by all appearances, is going to stop being a bureaucrat to run the team. At least he still understands that guns aren't usually the solution and thus should be saved for last resort.
White guy who is antisocial and fights people. Also may have grandmother issues.
Recently hired --as in she accepts the job sometime after the episode ends, but less than ten minutes after-- woman with the superpower of HACKING! Yes the capital letters and exclamation mark are necessary.
Former agent who retired from field work to be at the place where Coulson speculates that the red tape is made. She's the one who he got to drive the bus (which turned out to be a plane.) She does not end up standing on the sidelines.
Tech support. A man and a woman. Both geniuses.
-
Agent Melinda May, the formerly former agent, played by Ming-Na Wen is the only non-Caucasian in the main six. (Mane six? Could these be ponies? I don't know enough about My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic to really know.)
-----
If I have many more posts on TV series I'm going to have to stop sticking them under the "movies" tag and make a "tv" tag.
A woman doing voice over.
So far the only characters other than her with speaking parts are a black man and his son. Perhaps this won't be as white as feared. And he's a superhero.
-
White guy fights people.
-
Agent Hill. I like agent Hill.
White guy who fights people: "I'm clearance level six, I know Agent Coulson died before the battle of New York."
Agent Coulson walks out of the darkness. "Welcome to level seven." Beat. "I'm sorry. I couldn't help myself. The corner was dark and... I think there's a light out."
Shepard Book is in the show. A doctor in this incarnation.
-
"With great power comes... a ton of weird crap that you are not prepared to deal with."
-
"You're really just asking me to drive the bus?"
Coulson "I'm not asking. But it's a really nice bus."
-
So far I count 4 women and 5 men as characters. That's a Firefly ratio. Of course there's no way to tell whether they'll stay in the series and so far no woman has spoken to any other woman. Random white guy who fights has spoken to both Coulson and the tech support team which includes a guy.
-
Hey women do talk to each other in this show. It only took half an hour.
It took less time than that for them to kidnap someone with the black bag and everything.
-
Coulson just injected his own guy with a truth serum and is letting the person he kidnapped interrogate him [the guy Coulson injected, not Coulson himself] so that she'd be able to judge for herself if they were evil or not. Which is seven kinds of wrong but also a fun way to get someone to trust you if you take into account that it's a fictional world where not everything is meant to be taken seriously.
-
And fuck. Black guy played by Gunn from Angel is definitely not going to turn out to be a regular on this show after a scene like that. I mean there are ways, but that's generally not how you introduce a regular.
Which drops us to 8 people who may be sticking around with equal representation between genders but the question of whiteness is still... yeah. Because of those eight Shepherd Book and Maria Hill look like they'll be in the background, meaning that of the main six there's definitely a lighter skin tone even if not strictly Caucasian.
-
And if Shield doesn't find a miracle it's going to turn out that the black guy does die first.
-
And we're having a decent, "The American dream turned out to be a lie," speech.
-
And the black guy died first.
Wait. No. But he's still not going to stick with the show.
Coulson's car is from Back to the Future.
-
And as a final note, I stopped recording too early. I didn't miss anything of great value, just the next time bit and the credits that ran concurrently, but I record the credits as a matter of principle.
I thought the "Mutant Enemy" thing ran after everything else was done.
----
And, also, the lone hacker who can punch through any security system with a laptop ze won on a bet is, in fact, someone with superhero level powers. She'll be a regular. The show has:
Agent Coulson: Badass Bureaucrat who, by all appearances, is going to stop being a bureaucrat to run the team. At least he still understands that guns aren't usually the solution and thus should be saved for last resort.
White guy who is antisocial and fights people. Also may have grandmother issues.
Recently hired --as in she accepts the job sometime after the episode ends, but less than ten minutes after-- woman with the superpower of HACKING! Yes the capital letters and exclamation mark are necessary.
Former agent who retired from field work to be at the place where Coulson speculates that the red tape is made. She's the one who he got to drive the bus (which turned out to be a plane.) She does not end up standing on the sidelines.
Tech support. A man and a woman. Both geniuses.
-
Agent Melinda May, the formerly former agent, played by Ming-Na Wen is the only non-Caucasian in the main six. (Mane six? Could these be ponies? I don't know enough about My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic to really know.)
-----
If I have many more posts on TV series I'm going to have to stop sticking them under the "movies" tag and make a "tv" tag.
Fucking money; I don't have enough.
My left shoe blew out today. Now when I walk my left heel starts to slide out the new hole in the side of my shoe. I have shoes that can work nicely for inside or short distances, but no other shoes that work for the hour long walk into school and the hour long walk back. I can't afford to buy new ones either. I'm going to try to see if I can play amateur cobbler.
I think I'm just going to continue noting that I have negative money as a result of my tooth (so if anyone who hasn't yet could donate, I would be extremely appreciative) every post in hopes that maybe someone else actually can donate. Slim hope, but it's pretty much all I've got at this stage.
I also have the expense of university to think about.
And other stuff.
And while I still don't have an exact value of how much, at least I finally know when the expense of staying in this house will go up: January.
Fucking money; I don't have enough.
I think I'm just going to continue noting that I have negative money as a result of my tooth (so if anyone who hasn't yet could donate, I would be extremely appreciative) every post in hopes that maybe someone else actually can donate. Slim hope, but it's pretty much all I've got at this stage.
I also have the expense of university to think about.
And other stuff.
And while I still don't have an exact value of how much, at least I finally know when the expense of staying in this house will go up: January.
Fucking money; I don't have enough.
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
The Appalachian Trail hiker who is deaf-blind
Last night I went to a small meeting in the library at my university that was intended to celebrate the end of the hike of Roger Poulin and Roni Lepore. Poulin was born with a condition that affects hearing, vision, and balance. He is deaf, his balance is apparently bad enough that police officers think he's drunk, and he describes the vision he does have --extreme tunnel vision in one eye, no vision in the other-- as allowing him to see an area about the size of a softball. Lepore is deaf and serves as Roger's special service provider.
(To be able to see what Lepore signs Rodger has to hold on to her arm at the wrist so that he knows where he needs to put his softball of vision. Of course there's also tactile signing, which is effective even in the dark.)
Unfortunately Poulin wasn't able to complete his hike. About two miles from the top of Mt. Katahdin he, Lepore, and some people who had joined them, were forced to turn back due to conditions and daylight. Everyone, especially Poulin, was disappointed. As he pointed out in his remarks, two miles from the top is within sight of the goal.
He'll be returning to do the end of the trail next year in June or July then the daylight lasts longer.
He got the idea when his brother (one of his brothers? I had some trouble following things) was planning for an attempt at the Appalachian Trail which never materialized. In 2007 he met Lepore at the Helen Keller National Center in New York and told her about the idea. In 2008 the two began taking classes to prepare. By 2010 they were ready to start.
Poulin at first thought that he could hike the trail much more quickly than he was actually able to. He measured himself against the hikers who were passing him, mostly sighted hearing people with no balance problems, and Bill Irwin, author of the book Blind Courage (the only blind person to hike the entire trail without human assistance.) That meant that he was hoping to finish the trail in less than a year. That... didn't happen. Once he accepted that he needed to go at his own pace it seems like things went reasonably well although using protective equipment apparently required a fair amount of soul searching because of childhood bullying about such equipment.
Poulin isn't all that young. Bullying can have effects that last a damn long time.
On another note, a large proportion of men can't smell male body odor, it seems like Poulin might be one of them. Lepore had a lot to sign about his stench. That had to be one the more humorous things they discussed.
If you're interested in more about this, see their blog.
(To be able to see what Lepore signs Rodger has to hold on to her arm at the wrist so that he knows where he needs to put his softball of vision. Of course there's also tactile signing, which is effective even in the dark.)
Unfortunately Poulin wasn't able to complete his hike. About two miles from the top of Mt. Katahdin he, Lepore, and some people who had joined them, were forced to turn back due to conditions and daylight. Everyone, especially Poulin, was disappointed. As he pointed out in his remarks, two miles from the top is within sight of the goal.
He'll be returning to do the end of the trail next year in June or July then the daylight lasts longer.
He got the idea when his brother (one of his brothers? I had some trouble following things) was planning for an attempt at the Appalachian Trail which never materialized. In 2007 he met Lepore at the Helen Keller National Center in New York and told her about the idea. In 2008 the two began taking classes to prepare. By 2010 they were ready to start.
Poulin at first thought that he could hike the trail much more quickly than he was actually able to. He measured himself against the hikers who were passing him, mostly sighted hearing people with no balance problems, and Bill Irwin, author of the book Blind Courage (the only blind person to hike the entire trail without human assistance.) That meant that he was hoping to finish the trail in less than a year. That... didn't happen. Once he accepted that he needed to go at his own pace it seems like things went reasonably well although using protective equipment apparently required a fair amount of soul searching because of childhood bullying about such equipment.
Poulin isn't all that young. Bullying can have effects that last a damn long time.
On another note, a large proportion of men can't smell male body odor, it seems like Poulin might be one of them. Lepore had a lot to sign about his stench. That had to be one the more humorous things they discussed.
If you're interested in more about this, see their blog.
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
You ever have one of those days when you just can't think?
I've been having that a lot lately.
Part of it is no doubt that I have money problems. Remember the dentistry? Remember how I asked for money because I didn't have enough to pay for it? I am grateful to those who donated, and I have nothing against those who didn't (I'm sure you all have better things to do with your money than give it to me), but I never did get enough to pay for it so I'm still under that debt as well as others. That leaves me in a near constant state of "I have to make money" but never actually doing anything toward that end because I freeze up.
I had hoped that getting on disability would allow me to not be in financial distress which would in turn allow me to actually accomplish things rather than freeze up which would in turn (it's like dominoes, each thing sets up the next) allow me to get off of disability and support myself. Instead I almost immediately had the root canal thing hit me and all of my money and more is accounted for.
Part of it is no doubt school. This semester most of my classes (three out of four) are me retaking things I've already taken in order to replace bad grades with better ones. On the one hand this means I've been exposed to the material before. On the other hand... it means I've been exposed to the material before. There's this one homework assignment. I have to do it today. I thought it was due last week so I've had it on my mind for quite a while and the fact that it's not done as of last week should show you how the pressure of a deadline isn't helping me much.
The problem is that it requires me to watch and respond to a video that I've already seen. The video was boring and somewhat painful the first time. It's about how not to fuck up as a hearing student of sign language interacting with deaf people. It does this mostly by showing situations and three possible ways to respond to them, thus two fuck ups for every one thing right. It's like cringe comedy without the comedy. And I say that as someone who never found cringe comedy funny in the first place.
In addition to being painful to watch, there's the added problem that having seen the video before I know on some level (less than a thing remembered, more than a fleeting feeling) what the right answer is. So it's hard to have a reaction to it. Of course it's the right answer. What is there to say beyond, "Exactly what I thought it would be, for the reasons I thought it would be that"?
Also I'm ineligible for further financial aid from the government. I don't remember if I've mentioned this before, so I'll recap. Everything checks out except the number of credits I've already tried to earn. It's too many. If not for the classes I failed on account of mental health it wouldn't be, but it is. So I have to pay for school out of pocket and I haven't done that and I don't really have a way to do that. Just sort of a hail Mary that maybe I can scrape the money together (and pay the late fees) somehow before the semester's end. So more financial distress. Yay. But school pays for my psychologist and psychiatrist and I need them both.
Part of it is no doubt sleep. I haven't been getting it nearly as well as I should be. I'm going to have to talk to my psychiatrist about that because one of my medications causes utter insomnia in me (and is the only thing in the history of ever to deal with my depression) while another one counterbalances it in both theory and practice but hasn't been doing it as well as it should lately. (Without it I don't sleep at all, but lately with it I don't sleep well. So suboptimalness there.)
After that we get into things that do have doubt. Only three no doubts.
Part of it is no doubt that I have money problems. Remember the dentistry? Remember how I asked for money because I didn't have enough to pay for it? I am grateful to those who donated, and I have nothing against those who didn't (I'm sure you all have better things to do with your money than give it to me), but I never did get enough to pay for it so I'm still under that debt as well as others. That leaves me in a near constant state of "I have to make money" but never actually doing anything toward that end because I freeze up.
I had hoped that getting on disability would allow me to not be in financial distress which would in turn allow me to actually accomplish things rather than freeze up which would in turn (it's like dominoes, each thing sets up the next) allow me to get off of disability and support myself. Instead I almost immediately had the root canal thing hit me and all of my money and more is accounted for.
Part of it is no doubt school. This semester most of my classes (three out of four) are me retaking things I've already taken in order to replace bad grades with better ones. On the one hand this means I've been exposed to the material before. On the other hand... it means I've been exposed to the material before. There's this one homework assignment. I have to do it today. I thought it was due last week so I've had it on my mind for quite a while and the fact that it's not done as of last week should show you how the pressure of a deadline isn't helping me much.
The problem is that it requires me to watch and respond to a video that I've already seen. The video was boring and somewhat painful the first time. It's about how not to fuck up as a hearing student of sign language interacting with deaf people. It does this mostly by showing situations and three possible ways to respond to them, thus two fuck ups for every one thing right. It's like cringe comedy without the comedy. And I say that as someone who never found cringe comedy funny in the first place.
In addition to being painful to watch, there's the added problem that having seen the video before I know on some level (less than a thing remembered, more than a fleeting feeling) what the right answer is. So it's hard to have a reaction to it. Of course it's the right answer. What is there to say beyond, "Exactly what I thought it would be, for the reasons I thought it would be that"?
Also I'm ineligible for further financial aid from the government. I don't remember if I've mentioned this before, so I'll recap. Everything checks out except the number of credits I've already tried to earn. It's too many. If not for the classes I failed on account of mental health it wouldn't be, but it is. So I have to pay for school out of pocket and I haven't done that and I don't really have a way to do that. Just sort of a hail Mary that maybe I can scrape the money together (and pay the late fees) somehow before the semester's end. So more financial distress. Yay. But school pays for my psychologist and psychiatrist and I need them both.
Part of it is no doubt sleep. I haven't been getting it nearly as well as I should be. I'm going to have to talk to my psychiatrist about that because one of my medications causes utter insomnia in me (and is the only thing in the history of ever to deal with my depression) while another one counterbalances it in both theory and practice but hasn't been doing it as well as it should lately. (Without it I don't sleep at all, but lately with it I don't sleep well. So suboptimalness there.)
After that we get into things that do have doubt. Only three no doubts.
---
I'm sorry that I haven't been posting new material. I'd really like to. But that requires making it first and I've been kind of failing on that score.
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Whedon Stuff Post
For those interested in discussing such things in a place called something other than "Placeholder Post"
The topic so far has been phrases you wouldn't know were references to Firefly without appropriate context (which the universe rarely provides if you have not seen the show.)
The topic so far has been phrases you wouldn't know were references to Firefly without appropriate context (which the universe rarely provides if you have not seen the show.)
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Placeholder Post
This post has no content.
It exists solely so that the last post, about Buffy and Angel being on sale, won't be the most recent post when it ceases to represent the truth.
It exists solely so that the last post, about Buffy and Angel being on sale, won't be the most recent post when it ceases to represent the truth.
Today only: Buffy 70% off, Angel 61% off
If you've ever wanted the complete series of Buffy or Angel, today is apparently a good day to do it:
Monday, September 16, 2013
Good fracking God it's been a while since I posted something interesting, hasn't it?
I haven't been keeping up on my reading like I should (the deconstructions of both Fred Clark and Ana Mardoll have gone woefully unread, and thus inspired no fiction), I have been having a life in the place known as real life which takes time away from internet pursuits. I've also been in a dry spell writing-wise anyway meaning even when I do have the time words: they are not coming.
Had a dream on time travel, still trying to unravel the rules it followed to see if there's anything salvageable. Bad guy was the Queen of England who favored a form of time travel that involved putting your present consciousness in your passed body (and could also be adapted to the non-time travel act of bringing your past body to your present consciousness (de-aging) thus allowing for effective immortality.)
This (the time travel) was considered absurdly reckless by the good guys who were forced to work in the exact same spot as the Queen of England's people lest they tip their hand that they knew she was evil and start a time travel war instead of the much less destructive spying and counter-moves that existed. The reason it was considered reckless is that bodily traveling into the past allowed one to do what they intended and step out of the way, allowing historical inertia to guide things onto a not-completely different path. Changes could be small and controllable. On the other hand putting your present consciousness into your past body doesn't allow for getting out of the way and letting history take over. You're in that body reliving events and unless you do everything exactly the same except for the one thing you wanted to change, you'll be constantly knocking history off course. It might not be that bad, but it likely will because it results in a constant history breaking force thus preventing inertia from ever taking over.
Also, for some reason, it didn't change the time from whence you left all at once. (Yes, that makes no sense, ask me about A Sound of Thunder, the movie with Edward Burns not the short story, some time.) There would be a rolling series of changes that made it so those in the time you left were never sure if they were in a stable timeline or about to be erased as the changes continued.
Had a dream on time travel, still trying to unravel the rules it followed to see if there's anything salvageable. Bad guy was the Queen of England who favored a form of time travel that involved putting your present consciousness in your passed body (and could also be adapted to the non-time travel act of bringing your past body to your present consciousness (de-aging) thus allowing for effective immortality.)
This (the time travel) was considered absurdly reckless by the good guys who were forced to work in the exact same spot as the Queen of England's people lest they tip their hand that they knew she was evil and start a time travel war instead of the much less destructive spying and counter-moves that existed. The reason it was considered reckless is that bodily traveling into the past allowed one to do what they intended and step out of the way, allowing historical inertia to guide things onto a not-completely different path. Changes could be small and controllable. On the other hand putting your present consciousness into your past body doesn't allow for getting out of the way and letting history take over. You're in that body reliving events and unless you do everything exactly the same except for the one thing you wanted to change, you'll be constantly knocking history off course. It might not be that bad, but it likely will because it results in a constant history breaking force thus preventing inertia from ever taking over.
Also, for some reason, it didn't change the time from whence you left all at once. (Yes, that makes no sense, ask me about A Sound of Thunder, the movie with Edward Burns not the short story, some time.) There would be a rolling series of changes that made it so those in the time you left were never sure if they were in a stable timeline or about to be erased as the changes continued.
Sunday, September 8, 2013
Amazon Deal of the Week: Star Trek the Complete Series (whichever one you want) 54 to 67% off.
Ok, The Original Series 54% off:
The Next Generation 61% off:
Deep Space Nine 61% off:
Voyager 67% off:
Enterprise 56% off:
The Next Generation 61% off:
Deep Space Nine 61% off:
Voyager 67% off:
(Don't blame me for the crappy quality of the images, that's not handled on my end.)
Thursday, September 5, 2013
More computer updates (some even good)
Secondary computer has had a successful screen transplant and is now as functional as it was before it was stepped on. Yay.
The problem is that secondary computer, and tertiary computer, as useful as they are in their own right, are not up to the task of being primary computer. They simply aren't. Unfortunately primary computer doesn't seem to be either. It's on a steady decline. Most recently it's stopped accepting charge. Computers don't work without power but all is not lost. I have a computer of the same model that I got for parts; Right now it has become a battery charger for primary.
But the fact remains: at some point I am going to need a new computer. One not as old as secondary and not a netbook-like tertiary. (Other than the wireless going out tertiary has been the only computer without significant problems. It's also, unfortunately, the only one without a DVD/CD drive and has less power than a regular laptop of equivalent age. It is, none the less, very useful.)
The problem with needing a new computer is this: money.
Even with a couple of quite generous donations (thank you) if I throw in all of my savings I'm only about half way toward paying for my tooth. So I need the money for the rest of paying for the tooth before I can say I have zero, rather than negative, money to spend on a new laptop. A good laptop isn't cheap. Hell, a bad laptop isn't cheap.
The problem is that secondary computer, and tertiary computer, as useful as they are in their own right, are not up to the task of being primary computer. They simply aren't. Unfortunately primary computer doesn't seem to be either. It's on a steady decline. Most recently it's stopped accepting charge. Computers don't work without power but all is not lost. I have a computer of the same model that I got for parts; Right now it has become a battery charger for primary.
But the fact remains: at some point I am going to need a new computer. One not as old as secondary and not a netbook-like tertiary. (Other than the wireless going out tertiary has been the only computer without significant problems. It's also, unfortunately, the only one without a DVD/CD drive and has less power than a regular laptop of equivalent age. It is, none the less, very useful.)
The problem with needing a new computer is this: money.
Even with a couple of quite generous donations (thank you) if I throw in all of my savings I'm only about half way toward paying for my tooth. So I need the money for the rest of paying for the tooth before I can say I have zero, rather than negative, money to spend on a new laptop. A good laptop isn't cheap. Hell, a bad laptop isn't cheap.
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
More on base twelve terminology.
(Nota bene: I still need money. Dentistry is expensive.)
Ok, so we've got the digits pretty well defined:
1 One
2 Two
3 Three
4 Four
5 Five
6 Six
7 Seven
8 Eight
9 Nine
Ѧ Ten
ÏŸ Eleven (silmasan suggests "eve" for those who find "eleven" too long)
Then we get into the the double digits. Following base ten protocol says it should be "something [single digit]"
10 Can be, in general, "base" but for base twelve I think "twelve" makes sense. But, again credit to silmasan because this was not in the front of my mind at all even though I know it well, it can also be called a dozen. What I like about Dozen is silmasan's suggestion it can be shortened to the suffix -zen for double digit numbers. I don't really like "dozen" for 10 because dozen takes an article (a dozen, the dozen) where twelve does not. It could be onezen but I prefer "tweleve.
So:
10 Twelve
20 Twozen
30 Threezen
40 Fourzen
50 Fivezen
60 Sixzen
70 Sevenzen
80 Eightzen
90 Ninezen
Ѧ0 Tenzwen
ÏŸ0 Elevenzen / Evezen
Now then, three digit numbers have a very nice thing in base ten. You just have a word for basesquared (hundred) and stick a number with it (one hundred, two hundred, three hundred...) Twelve squared is a gross, thus:
100 One Gross
200 Two Gross
300 Three Gross
400 Four Gross
500 Five Gross
600 Six Gross
700 Seven Gross
800 Eight Gross
900 Nine Gross
Ѧ00 Ten Gross
ÏŸ00 Eleven / Eve Gross
Now that can get us up to ÏŸÏŸÏŸ = 1727 base ten.
Still following in the base ten model what we would want is a new word (thousand in base ten). Something for 12 to the third. Great gross, grand gross, long gross, and mass are all attested on wikipedia without citation. If that hive of scum and villainy can be trusted then Mass works great:
1,000 One Mass
2,000 Two Mass
3,000 Three Mass
4,000 Four Mass
5,000 Five Mass
6,000 Six Mass
7,000 Seven Mass
8,000 Eight Mass
9,000 Nine Mass
Ѧ,000 Ten Mass
ÏŸ,000 Eleven/Eve Mass
If it doesn't, on the other hand, we need a new word. Cuve? That would be Cu(bed Twel)ve. For the moment we'll assume the hive of scum and villainy is right.
This is where we start to take off.
We need one more word and then latin prefixes will get us to, I shit you not, 10303 in short scale 10600 and in long. Giant numbers.
Now the word we're looking for is twelve to the sixth (if Mass turns out to be bullshit Sive?) So, say, Massqu (pronounced more or less "mask") for "mass squared".
1,000,000 One Massqu
2,000,000 Two Massqu
3,000,000 Three Massqu
4,000,000 Four Massqu
5,000,000 Five Massqu
6,000,000 Six Massqu
7,000,000 Seven Massqu
8,000,000 Eight Massqu
9,000,000 Nine Massqu
Ѧ,000,000 Ten Massqu
ÏŸ,000,000 Eleven/Eve Massqu
Ok, so we've got the digits pretty well defined:
1 One
2 Two
3 Three
4 Four
5 Five
6 Six
7 Seven
8 Eight
9 Nine
Ѧ Ten
ÏŸ Eleven (silmasan suggests "eve" for those who find "eleven" too long)
Then we get into the the double digits. Following base ten protocol says it should be "something [single digit]"
10 Can be, in general, "base" but for base twelve I think "twelve" makes sense. But, again credit to silmasan because this was not in the front of my mind at all even though I know it well, it can also be called a dozen. What I like about Dozen is silmasan's suggestion it can be shortened to the suffix -zen for double digit numbers. I don't really like "dozen" for 10 because dozen takes an article (a dozen, the dozen) where twelve does not. It could be onezen but I prefer "tweleve.
So:
10 Twelve
20 Twozen
30 Threezen
40 Fourzen
50 Fivezen
60 Sixzen
70 Sevenzen
80 Eightzen
90 Ninezen
Ѧ0 Tenzwen
ÏŸ0 Elevenzen / Evezen
Now then, three digit numbers have a very nice thing in base ten. You just have a word for basesquared (hundred) and stick a number with it (one hundred, two hundred, three hundred...) Twelve squared is a gross, thus:
100 One Gross
200 Two Gross
300 Three Gross
400 Four Gross
500 Five Gross
600 Six Gross
700 Seven Gross
800 Eight Gross
900 Nine Gross
Ѧ00 Ten Gross
ÏŸ00 Eleven / Eve Gross
Now that can get us up to ÏŸÏŸÏŸ = 1727 base ten.
Still following in the base ten model what we would want is a new word (thousand in base ten). Something for 12 to the third. Great gross, grand gross, long gross, and mass are all attested on wikipedia without citation. If that hive of scum and villainy can be trusted then Mass works great:
1,000 One Mass
2,000 Two Mass
3,000 Three Mass
4,000 Four Mass
5,000 Five Mass
6,000 Six Mass
7,000 Seven Mass
8,000 Eight Mass
9,000 Nine Mass
Ѧ,000 Ten Mass
ÏŸ,000 Eleven/Eve Mass
If it doesn't, on the other hand, we need a new word. Cuve? That would be Cu(bed Twel)ve. For the moment we'll assume the hive of scum and villainy is right.
This is where we start to take off.
We need one more word and then latin prefixes will get us to, I shit you not, 10303 in short scale 10600 and in long. Giant numbers.
Now the word we're looking for is twelve to the sixth (if Mass turns out to be bullshit Sive?) So, say, Massqu (pronounced more or less "mask") for "mass squared".
1,000,000 One Massqu
2,000,000 Two Massqu
3,000,000 Three Massqu
4,000,000 Four Massqu
5,000,000 Five Massqu
6,000,000 Six Massqu
7,000,000 Seven Massqu
8,000,000 Eight Massqu
9,000,000 Nine Massqu
Ѧ,000,000 Ten Massqu
ÏŸ,000,000 Eleven/Eve Massqu
And here's where it gets simple. That's our millionish number, to add another three zeros just stick bi, tri, and so forth on. We don't even have to remove any letters because it still looks ok:
1,000,000,000 bimassqu
1,000,000,000,000 trimassqu
1,000,000,000,000,000 quadrimassqu
1,000,000,000,000,000,000 quintimassqu
And so on. That's short scale which is, as far as I'm concerned standard, but if you need really big numbers you can go long scale. Or even invent super long scale.
I have to go, I have to have already gone almost 20 minutes ago. This is not proofread.
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
My tooth and Pledge Drive
Remember how I had to have root canal work done, remember how that in turn necessitated a crown being put on my tooth (the root canal happened because that tooth had had so much work it couldn't hold itself together, the root canal fixing was even more work, thus without a cap to hold it together it would fall apart again), remember how the bill for the root canal almost wiped me out but the crown was done in a separate appointment and hadn't come in yet?
How do I put this? Right:
Please give me money.
Please.
Seriously, this crap is not cheap. I've already got other stuff I don't know how I'm going to pay for and this is yet another thing that I can in no way afford.
There are other things I'd like to ask you to donate to me for (some literary analysis type stuff that will involve buying multiple copies of the same book; some engineering type stuff that will require raw materials and experimentation, some puzzle type stuff that will require 3d printed masters and* possibly materials, probably other stuff I'm not thinking of right now) but for the moment: I have a working tooth. It works so well I don't even notice it most of the time. Please help me pay for it.
There are often rewards associated with pledge drives. Alas, I've got nothing. Sooo.... if you give me a thousand dollars (that's more than anyone has to spare, right?) I'll write a story with a character named after you in it, you can give me details and plot points and whatnot that you want, but I (generally) don't do depressing endings. At least not intentionally. So none of those for this pledge reward.
While I very much doubt anyone will give me that much money, if someone does I will stand by the above thingy.
-
* Since I accidentally knocked over the black half of the thermoset plastic (which I could have sworn was called theroset not thermoset) and it had settled so it might not be at a proper mix even after shaking now.
How do I put this? Right:
Please give me money.
Please.
Seriously, this crap is not cheap. I've already got other stuff I don't know how I'm going to pay for and this is yet another thing that I can in no way afford.
There are other things I'd like to ask you to donate to me for (some literary analysis type stuff that will involve buying multiple copies of the same book; some engineering type stuff that will require raw materials and experimentation, some puzzle type stuff that will require 3d printed masters and* possibly materials, probably other stuff I'm not thinking of right now) but for the moment: I have a working tooth. It works so well I don't even notice it most of the time. Please help me pay for it.
There are often rewards associated with pledge drives. Alas, I've got nothing. Sooo.... if you give me a thousand dollars (that's more than anyone has to spare, right?) I'll write a story with a character named after you in it, you can give me details and plot points and whatnot that you want, but I (generally) don't do depressing endings. At least not intentionally. So none of those for this pledge reward.
While I very much doubt anyone will give me that much money, if someone does I will stand by the above thingy.
-
* Since I accidentally knocked over the black half of the thermoset plastic (which I could have sworn was called theroset not thermoset) and it had settled so it might not be at a proper mix even after shaking now.
Monday, September 2, 2013
Computer update (again)
Ok, so here's the deal:
Of three laptops (primary, secondary, tertiary) I have one working screen (tertiary, thank you Ana by the way) one semi working screen (primary, imagine a world without red) and one screen (secondary) that has been stepped on recently by only the god of technology knows who. It might, and this would be annoying, even have been me.
It has been suggested that I let everyone know this because it obviously has an effect on my output and anyone following the blog might like to know about that stuff.
I wish there were a way to make this a more interesting post, something involving dragons perhaps, but a computer update will always, likely, be as boring as a computer update seems likely to be. It is itself, it cannot help but be so, and there's really not much interesting about, "Between my three computers I have only one fully functional screen."
That screen, by the way, belongs to a nice little computer that cannot accept CDs/DVDs. That's annoying. It would obviously be better if I could watch DVDs in full color and do the same with games on CD.
Of three laptops (primary, secondary, tertiary) I have one working screen (tertiary, thank you Ana by the way) one semi working screen (primary, imagine a world without red) and one screen (secondary) that has been stepped on recently by only the god of technology knows who. It might, and this would be annoying, even have been me.
It has been suggested that I let everyone know this because it obviously has an effect on my output and anyone following the blog might like to know about that stuff.
I wish there were a way to make this a more interesting post, something involving dragons perhaps, but a computer update will always, likely, be as boring as a computer update seems likely to be. It is itself, it cannot help but be so, and there's really not much interesting about, "Between my three computers I have only one fully functional screen."
That screen, by the way, belongs to a nice little computer that cannot accept CDs/DVDs. That's annoying. It would obviously be better if I could watch DVDs in full color and do the same with games on CD.
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