moonlightnrain

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tersa

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cyranocoyote

And now, the loot list (including gifts from Ellie's wonderful and amazing sister, enuffistoomuch, sent from afar):

• A mixed disc... on a 2 GB flash drive. With the most amazing piece of art to stand in for a playlist using the plastic halves of an old cassette tape as the cover of the playlist "book." Words do not do this justice, and I have a "big, warm, fuzzy, secret heart" for people who explain the playlists in their mixes, which this one does. Thanks, L-!
  
• Two hand-made sachets using herbs grown in Ellie's backyard (these smell so nummy!)
  
• A hand-made mini photo album in a small tin. Again, words aren't going to do this one justice, it's beautifully crafted. And thanks to those others of you who helped Jennie create this. I just adore it. All the photos makes me grin, and I'll carry this with me for whenever I'm having a rough day to remind me that I've got a whole slew of wonderful friends backing me up at all times.
  
• 3 mixed discs from Ellie: one for our McShep obsession, one for our Blake's 7 obsession, and one for our latest obsession, Traders (OMG, so cool). I was so blown away by this bevy of creativity, let me tell you.
  
• A ticket to go see The Reduced Shakespeare Company's "All the Great Books" at the SJ Rep tomorrow afternoon. Okay, I knew about this one in advance, but I had been really hoping to go, but didn't think I should splurge on the ticket myself....
  
• A green paper-coated ballpoint pen, the designs on which include a griffin.
  
• A v. v. soft, fuzzy crocheted blanket very much like the one Ellie made herself which I *constantly* envy. This one is in lovely warm earth tones and it will have to be pried from my stone cold, dead hands. I'm not even sure I'll be sharing it with the cats. She could tell you what the yarn is called, I always forget.
  
• This:
  
  (My ancestors hail from Wexford and I have been lusting after an authentic jersey for a couple years now. Two guesses who decided I needed this....)
  
• A Draco magnet.
  
• An amazingly beautifully framed print of this art:
  
  
• A cool steampunk "hand" pin.
  
• A framed black and white photo (1930s? 40s?) of a soldier who looks a) gay and b) a bit like David Thewlis and David Hewlett's love child.
  
• This really cool wallet (with a small sticker that matches):
  
  
• And last, but certainly not least, a lovely Traders fic, the message of which was, I believe, "even though sometimes our friends are a royal pain in the ass, our lives are so much better for them." :) And, believe me, that's always reassuring to hear. ;)
  
  I guess I'm doing something right.

phillipalden

Source: Associated Press:

John McCain calls himself an underdog. That may be an understatement. The GOP presidential candidate trails Democrat Barack Obama in polls, organization and money while trying to succeed a deeply unpopular fellow Republican in a year that favors Democrats. McCain also doesn't seem to have a coherent message let alone much of a strategy despite securing the nomination three months earlier than Obama.

"This is a tough race. We are behind. We are the underdog. That's what I like to be," the GOP nominee-in-waiting frequently tells donors these days, keenly aware not only of his woes but also his proven comeback ability: He won his party's nomination despite the implosion of his campaign last summer.

One year later, and now in the general election, McCain's troubles are so acute that he recently gave senior adviser Steve Schmidt "full operational control" of the day-to-day campaign and, effectively, scaled back the duties of campaign manager Rick Davis. The shift in responsibilities came after weeks of Republican quibbling that McCain had not adequately made the transition for the fall...

Read between the lines - Obama will be our next President, (thank the universe!)

Get out there and vote - and tell all your friends to vote as well.

phillipalden

It was cold out by the bay where we watch our local fireworks. But at least I wasn't held in a stress position or water-boarded for days before celebrating our country's independence. I wonder if they had fireworks at GITMO and let the prisoners watch in the hopes their cold-Koran hearts melted while watching the cool "sky-lights."

I wouldn't count on that strategy.

But Jesse Helms died, so I suppose there was something to celebrate. Now I don't wish anyone dead, but some men are toxic as long as they draw breath, so their demise is like a small death of evil.

After the last eight years I cannot say I celebrate my country's number one holiday. What am I supposed to be celebrating? The deaths of 600,000 innocent Iraqi's? The deaths of our boys in uniform? The desire of the neo-cons who run this country to bomb Iran? Am I supposed to celebrate the torture and rendition of people who have done nothing to us? (Most of the prisoners at GITMO are guilty only of holding anti-American views.) Should I celebrate all those poor people losing their homes because of a bunch of greedy bankers? Maybe I should celebrate the thousands of jobs being lost on a seemingly monthly basis?

So I watched the pretty fireworks in the cold, wondering just what the fuck I was supposed to be celebrating.

mizkit

Everyone else in this part of the world is currently curled up watching the season finale of Doctor Who, which I am not watching because we’ve just moved and can’t afford to get cable yet. *headdesk* So instead, I’m finishing up my words for the day, and trying to remember the eighty-three things I’ve been meaning to blog about. Apparently none of them are actually worth remembering, which is kind of sad. So I guess it’s mostly metrics today, and then I’m going to go re-watch more of series 1 New Who, as I’ve been wanting to do that for a while.

56,236 / 110,000 (51.1%)

Sadly, the halfway point is the last exciting milestone for a long time. Usually the 2/3rds point is a nice one, but in this case it’s so close to the 75K/300 page mark (which is much more impressive) that it’s meaningless. So I’ve got a long way to go before I get another rah-rah-yay-me moment. Still, halfway there!

ytd wordcount: 257,600
miles to Isengard: 72

iwasmisinformed

http://www.jlm.us/2008/07/5th_of_july_reading_assignment.html

Independence of Thought Day, Dennis Dale writing for The American Conservative magazine.

Take-home nugget: "I prefer the nation that accepts the uncertainty of the question to that which preens as the answer. I prefer the bravery of the free to the arrogance of the powerful."

See, this is why I'm not ready to renounce conservatism. Just neo-Confederacy.

da_zhuang

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.