Happy Birthday adamek

Law school hires Michael Brown to teach a course on the Patriot Act.

Thanx to Shakesville

Amanda Marcotte discusses another man hater who believes that males are incapable of human feelings.

Thanx to Pandagon.

Happy birthday, adamek and suecochran.

Got back here about 8p local time from the 1500 mile round trip to Austin for SMOFcon. I have been catching up on LJ, the news, email and such, and shall endeavour to post tomorrow about the trip and the con and such divertissments as chatting with a Greenpeace proseltyzer, an amazingly expensive paisely shirt, the flagship Whole Paycheck store and the coolest car I've ever seen, not to mention lotsa barbecue.

Maybe soon I'll be tired enough to go to sleep.

I was going to take some photos today but got to caught up in carving waxes. Clearly, if I'm going to take pictures I need to do it before I start working.

Finished the exploding flowers complete with the "POW".

I've been working on a carving of Luo Ping influenced plum blossom branch with rubies and tiny clock parts. I've gone as far as I can tonight. I'll make more blossoms and buds tomorrow. The branches themselves are finished and I've figured out how to set the tiny gears and parts. I'm working with museum snap shots but this is as close as I can find on the web.

I put up the first images I've done with a digital camera (other than the jewelry) on Body Impolitic. They're dinosaur bones and light.

Mood:Time to make soup

I actually had to DELETE the Mail app. Yes, it seems extreme, but I have no intention of ever using the darn thing, and no matter what I did it wouldn't leave me alone!!

I suppose the Apple police will be by any day now to lock me up.

This is the cake I made yesterday for the party/my birthday. Plain yellow, with rum frosting. Homemade multi-berry-cherry jam between the layers. Generally, kinda Yum.


And this is the Christmas stocking I made for Sarcasm Girl's beau. He's coming for Christmas this year, and he needs a receptacle for whatever Santa Claus brings with him. I've just been a whirlwind of handicrafts, no? Maybe I'll lay off the making of stuff for a while, now.

Having been to Egypt, now I am somewhat addicted to reading blogs of people who live in Egypt. One that I like is just called Living in Egypt, by a Canadian ex-pat, and a recent entry of hers says:


As someone whose favourite "news" shows are the Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report, I have also long been a fan of The Onion, a American satirical "news" source.... Recently a group of young Egyptian writers who are only known by their pseudonyms: Makarona (pasta), Ward Zeyada (extra fried onions), and Subar Lox (a term for a standard size for koshary) have started up an Egyptian version of The Onion. El-Koshary Today is named after an Egyptian dish that is a conglomeration of dark lentils, chickpeas, rice, and pasta topped with fried onions, a spicy tomato sauce and a garlic/vinegar sauce.

Okay, well, here's a thing to know... every Egyptian we met had an outrageous sense of humor. El Koshary Today is INCREDIBLY funny, the more so if you know a few things about current events there. But remember that story about an Onion article being taken at face value by the Chinese government? From the El Koshary home page:

"In case you haven't noticed, El Koshary Today is not a "real" news site. Our philosophy here is to use sarcasm and imagination to raise awareness of some of the serious (and not so serious) issues plaguing our nation. It is not intended to relay any factual information or credible circumstances, though where possible readers will find news links to the actual issues being satirized herein."

Anybody who writes a headline like USA TIRED OF WORLD DOMINATION, LEAVES PLANET gets my vote.

I'm looking to purchase personalized tallit clips...any suggestions on where to find them?

A link to a complaint about a convention's treatment of one of its vendors was posted on an email list I read, and the comments about the problem have hit one of my sore spots. So, I ask you:

Poll #1496045
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 17

Should volunteers be judged by different criteria than paid workers?

Sunday morning I got up late, and was still full from dinner, so I ended up skipping breakfast and heading straight to program. I was also fighting a cold, so I filled my pockets with cough drops from CVS, and tissues. (Fortunately, though I'd forgotten all my drugs, I had tossed in a couple of zinc lozenges last-minute, which probably saved me from an even worse fate.) First, I went to a panel on how to run meetings (which I do badly). The secret is to pay attention to running the meeting, and not as much what's being said. But this morning's session was dominated by two panels that covered similar topics: one, on the future of cons, and the other, on social networking. I went to the second, though I understand there were some fireworks in the other one!

The social networking panel mostly focused on Twitter, Facebook, and LiveJournal. The conclusion is that they are all different, and a con should have a presence on all three--though perhaps with different people. LJ is useful for press announcements and other lengthy things; Facebook, for keeping in touch and telling people about events (like upcoming parties); and Twitter, for keeping you in people's minds. Not everything Tweeted needs to be strictly con-related. Also, anything long enough to be on LJ should probably also go on the con's website, as all three are ephemeral--messages are lost with time. Kimm Antell, who is Reno's Twitterer (renovationsf, if you want to friend it), told of some amusing problems with her Tweeting, and also provided some useful tools. (I'll post notes later, maybe.)

After a light lunch in the consuite--really, an hour is too short--the wrap-up session, mostly with a Q&A for San Jose, occurred. During it, someone complained of how 'cliquey' all we smofs are. Well, yes, and fans aren't good socially; we're all too shy. Then I stood up and introduced June who came from the Canadian Maritimes to study fandom; I'd taken her under my wing a bit over the weekend, introducing her to people. Alas, I won't be in San Jose.

As people drifted away over the afternoon, I meandered about chatting. (I'm always chuffed when what I consider to be a Big Name Fan, with whom I do not interact regularly, remembers me and comes over to talk to me.) Dinner was a small French restaurant about a block away, which was very good. Several fannish groups wandered in after ours, and also liked it--I even liked the cauliflower soup! (Must be the Gruyere.) I waffled on eating the rabbit, but went with the beef instead, as I hadn't had any in Texas other than two (enormous) beef ribs at the Iron House. During dinner, I joked to paradoox that my husband was smarter than him. "Oh, I seriously doubt that," he replied. "He's stopped running cons," I retorted.

Things broke up early, because everyone had early flights; I myself set my alarm for 6:30am (and woke up well before it). My trip to the airport was fine; my flights were only marred by my cold--my ears filled up totally (despite pre-medicating), and left me with the feeling like I was listening to everything from under water. They will eventually, painfully, clear. I was happy to see my car, my cats, and my husband and kids.

Now to prep for Arisia!

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2009/12/07/ahead-copenhagen-a-meeting-with-al-gore

President Barack Obama met with former Vice President Al Gore in the Oval Office today in advance of his trip to Copenhagen where he will participate in the United Nations Climate Change Conference. The White House recently announced that, in the context of an overall deal in Copenhagen that includes robust mitigation contributions from China and the other emerging economies, the President is prepared to put on the table a U.S. emissions reduction target in the range of 17% below 2005 levels in 2020 and ultimately in line with final U.S. energy and climate legislation.

This announcement was met with strong support from a diverse group of leaders, including former Vice President Al Gore:

“President Obama took an important step today with the announcement that he will attend the global warming treaty talks in Copenhagen.

This action is another example of the significant change in policy on the climate crisis.…Those who feared that the United States had abdicated its global responsibility should take hope from these actions and work towards completing a strong operational agreement next month in Copenhagen and guidelines for negotiators to complete their work next year on a comprehensive treaty.

It is my hope that the Senate will support the President and move quickly to pass climate and energy legislation early next year in order to ensure that the world moves toward speedy solutions for the climate crisis.”

A store for coyotes (gip)

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2009/12/07/streaming-11-am-cto-chopra-and-cio-kundra-launch-open-government-plan

In an appropriate first for the White House, we'll be announcing the White House's Open Government Plan in a live online chat with Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra and Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra.  Watch the announcement, then ask your questions and make your suggestions live.

Watch live through WhiteHouse.gov/live Watch, discuss and engage through Facebook

Spun chicken

Here are the pictures I took the other day, during the Help Portrait event at Wellspring Family Services.

( Including a picture of me! )