Animals for the Ethical Treatment of Us
Question for those more familiar with the subject:
In “serious” works where the sentients are anthropomorphic animals, do they keep pets?
Would Zannah have a kitty? Or a dachshund? (She did have a Targ plushy in that recent picture.)
Just wondering.
Plot a course, Mr. Mayweather
Here is a link to a picture of the flight deck of an Airbus A830, the largest passenger aircraft in the world:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a4/Airbus_A380_cockpit.jpg
Notice that the flight control sticks have been moved to moved to the side, to make room for the primary control – the laptop keyboard.
Note also, without comment, the two Windows-based displays in the front panel.
This is looking less like a plane cockpit, and more like the bridge of the NX-01.
“I summon: Mecha-Lawyer Zeta!”
Ever notice how superheroes are reactive, not proactive? Batman doesn’t hunt the Joker down for his unpunished history of crime, but for whatever he did yesterday?
In a related vein, here’s a Power Rangers question for you. Knowledge of the show is not required; here’s a synopsis of a standard episode.
Space witch Rita Repulsa sends a 10-foot rubber monster to the town of Angel Grove as part of her ongoing plan to capture the city. (I can’t remember the reason.) The Rangers must overcome a plot point usually related to teamwork, friendship, or trust to defeat the critter.
Before it can expire, Rita throws one of an endless supply of magic staves from the moon to the monster’s position; the staff explodes and revitalizes the monster, increasing it to 100-foot size. Property damage ensues as it rampages. The Rangers summon their five-piece giant robot, and melee the giant; more property damage, from both sides, occurs until monster is vanquished.
Question:
Even my avatars drink more than I do
Got everything I really wanted from BrewFest this year. Circy the warlock got traditional BrewFest regalia, and a Wolpertinger pet. (Related to the snipe and the pink elephant, my Wolpertinger can only be seen by other players if they are drunk.)
Screenshot of my new stuff, and a pickup line
Gleaming, streaming, flaxen, waxen
Another round of the hair saga today.
Back when I started paying for my own haircuts, I decided to grow my hair long. It was pretty straight and stringy back then. (First pic) After the car accident, I cut it a little bit shorter, but it didn’t get far from my collar line, and it filled out a lot. (Second pic).
raininva liked short hair on me, so I kept it pretty trim while we were together. (Third pic) This year, though, I figured I’d enjoy growing it back out to its two-decades-ago length. (Fourth pic, though I have put the beard back on since then)
Reviews have been mixed. Some of my BCT co-workers were unimpressed, but the new hair went over great at Invisifest. It’s cool at NASA, though with all the military there I think I’ve got the longest hair on base.
This weekend, an acquaintance told me that it looked terrible on me – it bummed me out a bit. But just today, one of my coworkers told me she loved it, and it was a big improvement over April’s length.
I’m going to keep it long for now, but there certainly seems to be very little middle ground here!
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| 1988 | 1997 | 2003 | 2007 |
Thank you for indulging my little narcisissm moment.
Percussive Maintenance
1) Need replacement VCR for occasional nostalgia and transfer of old tapes to digital.
2) Discover that no one sells VCRs at retail anymore.
3) Buy cheap used VCR off eBay. Possibly from Russia.
4) Wait for seller to ship. Seller is in no hurry.
5) VCR finally arrives. Will not accept tapes. Consider scathing eBay feedback.
6) Whack VCR a few times with heavy object. Suddenly, VCR works just fine, thank you.
7) Roll eyes, sigh, and enjoy old tapes.
Lonely Rolling Star
Bummer. New Katamari game coming out in less than a week, and it’s only for the XBox 360.
I don’t have a 360, or a PS3 (the PS3 version was cancelled, because Sony has forgotten how to market game consoles). If I bought a new console, which I’m not going to anytime soon, it would probably be a Wii.
The original designer wasn’t involved in this game, which is a small consolation. Maybe I could give it as a present to a local friend who does have a 360 in exchange for visitation rights.
No, I’m not awake yet.
Misty Technicolor Memories
It seems that actor Chris Pine is up for the part of Captain James Kirk in the upcoming Trek movie. Among other named participants are Zoe Saldana as Uhura, and Zachary Quinto as Spock. Looking pretty good, so far.
“You’ve wrecked my childhood!” is a phrase oft heard on the Internet, when the new remake of a favorite property comes along. Most recently, some Transformers fans screamed it to anyone who would listen. I can’t help but think that these people show a disappointing level of perspective; who over the age of 20 hasn’t picked up an old book, or the DVD of an old movie, and discovered that it just doesn’t speak to them the way it did all those years ago?
I recently acquired the first season of “Battle of the Planets“: an anime import about a team of bird-costumed super-ninjas in a rocket-jet fighting a high-tech criminal syndicate. It suffered from translation; the translators were forced to make massive cuts of violence and teenage-level plot points while adding in footage of a cute robot and space travel. Imagine that someone had told you that, for Freedonian broadcast, classic Trek had to be cut to 30 minutes per episode, never leave Earth’s solar system, and ditch the pointy-ear guy.
I loved “Battle of the Planets” when I was 8. I made paper airplane versions of the hero’s razor-edged jet boomerang, tinfoil helmets, and beach towel capes. Finally seeing it again all these years later was fun, but I couldn’t help but admit that I was no longer able to appreciate it the way I once could, and that was okay. The upcoming live-action movie will probably be a tiny bit more mature; and I won’t complain at all about all the things they got “wrong”.
Or at least not very much.
A VTSFFC Party, Day Two
I slept quite late Sunday morning; I’d not had enough rest in the last week, and a five-hour drive is still draining even when it’s pleasant.
shrewlet fixed a big breakfast for us. I was starving, I honestly ate too much. I spent a few minutes checking e-mail and trying to log onto WoW – I’m trying to earn enough quest tickets to win a prize in-game – but I couldn’t get a good connection. It wasn’t long before I had to give up and get dressed for yubbie and colleenk‘s wedding.
Wile dressing, I amused myself by considering the far greater number of times I’ve worn a Starfleet uniform than a suit, but it’s not as if I’d forgotten how to put it on. Dwight and I left the Arthur digs early, for we had stops to make – I picked up a cute card for the happy couple – and we arrived pretty much on time.
Listing the LJ and fan folk who were there would be quite tedious, so I shan’t try. The wedding was wonderful. Colleen was gorgeous and Ron looked great. I saw people there I hadn’t laid eyes on in years!
That sad part was that I couldn’t stay for the reception – we had a 5-hour drive back (6, really) and Dwight had to be home in time for an early work day. So I didn’t get to pass on my congratulations in person. But the pictures prove I was there!
Home now… I had a great time, and wish I could have spent more time at that end of the state. The Roanoke and New River valleys need to be brought at least 2/3 closer to Hampton Roads (or vice versa).
A VTSFFC Party, Day One
It turns out that a 5-hour drive in a Mini Cooper is a lot more comfortable than you’d think. In the front seat, anyway.
Dwight introduced me to a bunch of very good music. I’m going to have to look up some more material by the Dresden Dolls and the Supreme Beings of Leisure. The company was excellent and the scenery compelling (and the leaves haven’t even turned yet!)
We arrived in Blacksburg, picked up shrewlet, and wandered into Invisifest around 4, into a panel that tltrent was hosting. I was knocked over by my welcome; my VTSFFC family is one excellent bunch of folk, who really know how to make a guy feel like he’s where he belongs. I caught up with rattrap, nius, rainbowsaber, mephox, anterus, southernsinger, rubinpdf, Cathy, Ben, Jamie, and many other people. Around six, we had to shut down the panel, but we dragged most of the crowd to Macado’s, where Pat and I geeked out over Whovian matters while we waited for our food.
There was a brief attempt at handing Technicon 25 over to me, which I discuss a little more over in my lifestyle filter (if you want to be added to that and haven’t been, leave a comment here to that effect). Suffice it to say that their idea would have made for a quite memorable TCon, and that I turned down the kind offer. Rapidly. Possibly in nanoseconds 🙂
We went back to the ‘Fest for Keith’s White Plectrum concert, which was a small, laughter-filled performance. Keith paid me high compliments by telling the story of how “Red Pill” was written. For those who asked, the throwaway line which inspired “When They Shut Down The Fusion Plant (We’ll Pack Our Bags And Glow)” is found in Music From the Heart of Space, a Starfleet: Batron Eleven fanfic which includes elements of Doctor Who, Robotech: Macross, and Megazone 23. Despite that mashup, I’m still rather proud of the tale, which will always live on in some small manner thanks to Jerry’s twisted creative mind.
We had to leave shortly afterwards. I wish I’d had the energy to stay all night and party, but I have a wedding to attend tomorrow!
