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aLp 313: That Can't Be Jesus Christ

I went heavy on the Jesus jokes there didn't I...

It's been a rough, rough last few weeks in the comic-making department... not only did I have to miss last week but you wouldn't believe how many things conspired against me in trying to get this episode to you. Just when I was finishing it up a freak accident happened and I lost like half of the work I'd done. And now, separately, my computer's pulling that blue screen crap you see here, and it won't boot.

So... yeah like I said it's been rough. And guess what... I'd made up my mind to do ANOTHER, FULL-PAGE update this week, to make up for last week, and also, well, it has to do with Christmas (though believe it or not Jesus' return was initially coincidental, and unrelated to the season). Now with my computer being all busted I don't know if that's gonna happen. If it doesn't (by Friday), I'm faced with putting up a Christmas-themed comic after Dec. 25... how lame is that. Anyway. BLArGh

That "Calgon take me away" line was the first random thing that popped into my head when I was writing that panel, and after it all, sure enough, I found this little vid on YouTube.

Welp, if I can get my computer working again I'll have the next update up on Christmas Day; if not... PLEASE HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Snowboarding...Lesson 1
So I went to Wachusett today and I purchased the 3 lesson package...I had an absolute BLAST! I'm definitely more into snowboarding! I did ski one time and I didn't fall, but it wasn't very fun. I had the lesson and I practiced a little...I'm definitely going back tomorrow. So far, I'm not too sore...but we'll see what happens tomorrow morning when I wake up. My shoulder is a bit sore...I landed on it pretty hard.

The instructor said that I was 300% better at the end of the lesson...so, there we go...my balance totally sucks. I basically fell every single time. When I went to practice I took the "Magic carpet" up and sort of tumbled/snowboarded down :-p

I did find that I really like the snowboard boots that had the button in the front and you push it in and twist it to tighten it. I'm buying those next season!

Snowboarders are super nice! I met a ton of really nice people there and they said I was doing really well for my first time...but I'm sure they were just being nice.

And yes...I fell a lot...pretty much every time. I have no problem maintaining my balance going down...it's the slowing down and stopping that I'm not very good at yet. I basically have no control.

I'm definitely going to try and go as frequently as possible to get better. It was so funny because when I got to the mountain and saw two of the more complex runs I thought to myself, "There's no way in hell I will ever get on those runs." and as I was leaving it changed to, "I can't wait until I'm better to go on those runs!"

Oh man what a rush going down though...Carving the ice is the most satisfying thing...the sound that it makes and watching it is awesome! I can't wait until tomorrow!

Christmas Doom from the Many-Angled Ones.

Overtime by Charles Stross.

Current Music: A Place to Bury Strangers -- Keep Slipping Away

How to use Facebook with a feed reader

I almost never actually visit the Facebook web site: I follow it through a feed reader (in my case, NetNewsWire) along with all of my other feeds.

Besides the obvious benefits to this, one great side effect is that you never, ever see the output of applications (e.g., quiz results) or the other useless noise like "so-and-so is now friends with someone else you already know". The only drawback I've found is that you also don't see notifications about photos that your friends have uploaded. (You do see links that they post, however: just not Facebook-hosted photos. It's a bizarre omission.)

Anyway, I just had to explain to someone how to accomplish this feat, which made me realize how completely non-obvious Facebook has made this. Finding these feeds is a complete pain in the ass. They've really gone out of their way to hide the URLs you need to use.

So. You have to subscribe to three or four different feeds.

Posts: Find the Posts feed by going to http://www.facebook.com/posted.php. On the upper right of the page is a gray box, and at the bottom of that box is a link entitled "My Friends' Links" with the RSS logo next to it. Copy that URL. Subscribe to it in your feed reader. This is the RSS URL for any links and (external) images that your friends post.
Notes: Find the Notes feed by going to http://www.facebook.com/notes.php and repeating the above. This is the RSS URL for things that your friends post via the "Notes" app, which is (I guess) the more blog-like way of posting long things to Facebook.
Notifications: Find the Notifications feed by going to http://www.facebook.com/notifications.php and repeating the above. This is the RSS URL for things like "so-and-so commented on your status". You might not care to subscribe to this one because you can get all of these kind of notifications in email.
Status Updates: This is the RSS URL for the "What are you doing?" Twitter-like part of Facebook. This is the one you probably care about, and it is trickier, because Facebook no longer links to the feed URL! Nice one guys. You have to construct this URL by editing one of the above URLs. E.g., take the "Notes" URL and change the part of the URL that says "friends_notes" to "friends_status". Keep the parts of the URL before and after that, including the magic numbers at the end.

There. Wasn't that SIMPLE?

Previously: How to use Livejournal with a feed reader.

Current Music: The Coathangers -- Bury Me

jsmin is not free software
JSMin has a non-free clause in its license: "The Software shall be used for Good, not Evil." The author of this addition clearly thought it was cute, but a license is no place for being cute; precluding evil is a simple violation of clauses five/six of the DFSG.

Allowing people to do things you disagree with is the whole point of free software, not just a minor quibble. See also Mark Pilgrim's great essay: Thank you for giving me the opportunity to explain this to you.

(When it comes to freedom, I side with Debian over the open source people or the GNU nuts. I think something like the third clause of the BSD license combined with a trademark for the book title (if he cared enough) would've been enough to address the issue invariant texts were meant to address in the non-free GFDL.)

Best09: #22 (Startup)
What's a business that you found this year that you love? Who thought it up? What makes it special?

Lala totally rocked my world this year. It completely changed the way I discover, listen to, and purchase music. I believe those statistics that say music spending is up among those who use file-sharing. Although Lala isn't file-sharing, it's a similar technology and I bought more music this year than in any other year since I got high-speed internet.

I wrote a bit about it earlier in the year, so I won't write much more. Apple recently bought Lala, so I hope they don't screw it up.

Current Music: Beach Boys - God Only Knows

dnalounge update

DNA Lounge update, wherein the holiday cheer continues apace.

Current Music: Ab Ovo -- Egregore

Welcome to Jordan (Honeymoon, part 3)

Hairdryers in Eilat are weird

At the end of my last post, we were about to leave for Jordan. We got an earlier start than we wanted, as we were woken up by thumping bass music at 5am. We took advantage of the time of day, and stayed up to watch the sun rise and book a place to stay in Aqaba (leeching someone's wi-fi). We chose a Dive Village on the South Beach area of town.

Crossing the border into Jordan was fairly easy, considering the history of the two nations. We tried to walk from Eilat to the border, but it turned out to be really far, really dusty, and totally lacking shade. We got a taxi for the last leg and walked across the border, paying our 95NIS crossing fee (used to discourage people from leaving Israel). We walked across this eerie no-mans-land between the two nations, as you can see above. It felt like a prisoner transfer or something from 24.

On the Jordanian side of the border, things weren't as organized. We were passed from window to window, getting the necessary stamps and visas into our passports. We were the only two people not part of a tour group, which we should have taken as a sign.

Finally, we had the documents necessary to get past the guard post and into the dusty parking lot on the Jordanian side of the boarder. Beyond the dirt lot was desert, with a single road stretching eastward as far as the eye could see. We were immediately accosted by taxi drivers, asking where we were going. We took a cab to downtown Aqaba, since we read that cabbing directly to the South Beach is more expensive than splitting it into two voyages.

We were dropped off in downtown Aqaba, and figured we could walk south until we got to South Beach. It wasn't until later we learned that South Beach is actually about 10km south of the city, past a huge industrial area, cargo port, cliffs, and generally a bunch of things that don't make for a relaxing walk. We walked past a large P-Patch that bordered the Red Sea. A promenade along the water took us past idle blue-collar types, people wanting to sell us food or boat excursions, women bathing in full black hijab dress.

Not where we stayed

There's something I'm having trouble putting into words in a respectful way, and I was tempted to leave it out as to not sound stereotypical or prejudiced. But it impacted our time in Jordan more than any other thing, so as imperfect as it may be, it must be said: every man in Jordan stared at Venessa as if they were just ejected from a spaceship or tossed overboard and could only breathe through their eyeballs if the oxygen would somehow flow out of Venessa's hair, breasts, hips, and legs through their gaze. EVERY man. It was disgraceful and disgusting. The unceasing, unrepentant stare of a man who's been told his entire life that he has no control over his body, his masculinity, his urges, and the only recourse to prevent society from degrading into a grinding mass of rape, orgy, and incest is to have the female form hidden from his view, so he never needs to exercise his own God-given power of restraint. I'm fully aware that this is my own culture speaking, and these men probably thought we were "disgraceful and disgusting," walking around in shorts and showing a modicum of affection towards each other in public. I'm curious what my friends with mid-Eastern backgrounds have to say about this, or those who've also traveled to Arab countries. It was one of those things where you knew what was coming, but reading or hearing about it just couldn't prepare one for actually experiencing it.

A nice photo to cleanse the palate from the above rant

We took a cab the rest of the way to South Beach, and found the Diver's Village. The Village itself was just across the main highway from the beach, and only about 5 minutes walk up a rather steep hill (which afforded an amazing view of the Red Sea and Egypt, but was unshaded and thus rather uncomfortable to traverse). The hotel area was appointed like a sultan's palace, with low, cushioned seating, lots of tile, and small cabins with a rooftop deck. The A/C was engaged in a fierce battle against the sun, and only upon sundown did the A/C unit win its nightly pyrrhic victory. The cabins themselves are under-priced as loss-leaders for more expensive scuba excursions, so we just enjoyed the views, did a lot of reading, and partook in the amazing breakfasts each morning.

The cabins were set in a slight valley, so on 3 sides was the sight you see above: a small dirt hill with a pack of wild dogs playing, scavenging, and yapping. The area seemed to be in an eternal state of unfinished construction projects. The hotel had a restaurant, where a meal for two can be had for 5JD ($7).

We spent the day snorkeling and swimming. I struck up a conversation with a group of boys, but the language barrier and the ambient noise made it rather futile. They wanted to know if Venessa and I were married, where we're from. Anyone who's spoken to teenagers in a foreign country knows the standard questions. I played the part of the gracious guest and told them that Jordan is the highlight of my trip, and mostly downplayed the Jewish/Israel portion of our voyage.

While Venessa was out snorkeling and I was on the beach, I met a young Israeli couple from Tel Aviv, the only Israelis we encountered in Jordan. I told them we were heading back into Israel in a couple days and we'd be in Tel Aviv the following week. They recommended Gordon Beach and after I thanked them for the recommendation, the woman said "See you there" without a hint of irony.

As the sun set it became bearable to sit outside in an unshaded location. I spent the final minutes of daylight on the rooftop deck, watching the sun set behind the Egyptian hills, and reading a novel in the fading twilight as the dogs' muted howls competed with the constant whoooosh of the wind kicking up sand from one hill to the next.

Tomorrow will be the long trip up to Petra.

Best09: #17 - 21 (Word, shop, car ride, person, project)
Word or phrase. A word that encapsulates your year. "2009 was _____."

Kablamo

Shop. Online or offline, where did you spend most of your mad money this year?

A plurality of my money went to a little boutique called Chase Mortgages. Additionally, I spent a lot dining out, and on bike/biathlon stuff.

Car ride. What did you see? How did it smell? Did you eat anything as you drove there? Who were you with?

Driving from Safed through the West Bank to Eilat over a couple days. We ate Hit wafers and fruit stolen from breakfast buffets.

New person. She came into your life and turned it upside down. He went out of his way to provide incredible customer service. Who is your unsung hero of 2009?

I didn't meet too many new people.

Project. What did you start this year that you're proud of?

I'm in the middle of a big project to scan old photos. The secret toothpaste tube project is still ongoing. Owning chickens is kind of a never-ending project. I guess you could say the same for parenting.

A Day in the Life of a Turret

Current Music: Jonathan Coulton & GLaDOS -- Still Alive

Movie observation

I’m amused that whenever I’ve mentioned the movie Inglourious Basterds to a woman thus far, the association with the movie that she’s drawn was not World War II, or Quentin Tarantino. Every time I’ve mentioned it, the woman recognized the movie by the presence of Brad Pitt in it.

Never mind that this was quite possibly his least-sexy role ever (especially with the hilariously-ridiculous hillbilly accent). Women just seem to like Brad Pitt.

TONIGHT! David Bowie pub crawl
Info has been slow to come in and it's all rather vague, but it sounds like there's going to be a David Bowie themed pub crawl tonight on Capital Hill.

Here's what I know:

The Adventure School will be having a BOWIE BAR CRAWL tonight to pump up Capitol Hill for the Labyrinth NYE Party! Join us in your Bowie finery! If you make it the whole night you get 1/2 off your Labyrinth NYE tickets (which are $125)!

Schedule as follows:
8 – 8:30 Meet the Adventure School 1205 E. Pike (free drinks)
8:30-9 – barrio & tavern Law 1406 12th Ave
9-9:30 Grey Gallery/PURR - 1512 11th Ave
9:30-10 Cha-Cha - 1013 E Pike St
10-10:30 Quinns/MOE - 1001 E. Pike
10:30-11 Rosebud - 719 E. Pike
11:-11:30 Lindas - 707 E. Pine
11:30-12 Kurrant - 606 E. Pine
12:12-30 Capitol Club - 414 E. Pine
12:30-on Eagle (Fringe) - 314 E. Pike

Check in with Cori at 1am for the discount code to get your 1/2 NYE tickets.

*Call the Adventure School hotline for updates throughout the night 206-802-8048

Today in Bug Sodomy news

Bug powder causes male bedbugs to stab each other to death with their penises

Male bedbugs will schtup anything, and when they do, their stabby little penises can do great damage to one another. Female bedbugs have some "down there" armor that absorbs the punishing blows of the bedbug's love-spear, but males lack this protection. A pheromone discovered by a Swedish researcher can cause male bedbugs to kill each other with their penises through uncontrolled shagging.

Previous torture phalluses.

Today in Sodomy news

Eighth Graders In Oral Plea

A pair of Georgia eighth graders this week copped to public indecency charges after they engaged in oral sex while a substitute teacher was helping other students at the front of the classroom. [...] As part of the plea, sodomy charges against both students were dropped, and a probation violation count leveled against the boy was dismissed. After being held at a youth detention facility, the girl was released to her parents's custody. The boy, however, remains locked up, according to a law enforcement official.

Playstation and Facebook: unclear on the concept.

I saw that in the latest PS3 OS update, they added Facebook integration. Now, there's one and exactly one thing that could possibly be useful for, right? You've already thought of it in the time it took you to read that sentence. The one useful thing would be to unify your friends lists, so that your PS3 can automatically know which of your Facebook friends are online without you having to search for and then manually enter all of their Playstaion Network IDs.

Guess what, it doesn't do that. All it does is make it so that the PS3 can spam your Facebook Status every time you buy a game, and every time you upload a trophy. Who would ever, ever want it to do either of these things?

I'll bet a "Social Media Consultant" was involved.

Current Music: Say Hi To Your Mom -- But She Beat My High Score

tap

Previously, previously, previously.

Current Music: Depth Charge -- Shaolin Buddha Finger

I hate it when that happens.

Fortunately the utility belt that was provided for him contained shark repellant.

A civilian passenger in an air force display plane accidentally activated the ejector seat while reaching for something to steady himself during a mid-air manoeuvre. It is thought he activated the ejector seat after lurching forward during an aerobatic manoeuvre and accidentally pulling on the black and yellow emergency handle between his legs.

Current Music: Ringo Deathstarr -- Jet

Vroom!

I swear, after roaring along a deserted expressway at well over twice the speed limit^*, my bike was purring contentedly at the traffic light at the end of it. It just seemed somehow very pleased with itself.

I'm sure that my bike is at least part cat.

^*Speed limits here are ridiculously low. On the bit of expressway I was on, the speed limit was 60km/h. It later lowered to 40km/h, which meant that I was going at three times the speed limit at the time.

Your tax dollars at work.

Insurgents Hack U.S. Drones

Militants in Iraq have used $26 off-the-shelf software to intercept live video feeds from U.S. Predator drones, potentially providing them with information they need to evade or monitor U.S. military operations.
Senior defense and intelligence officials said Iranian-backed insurgents intercepted the video feeds by taking advantage of an unprotected communications link in some of the remotely flown planes' systems. Shiite fighters in Iraq used software programs such as SkyGrabber -- available for as little as $25.95 on the Internet -- to regularly capture drone video feeds, according to a person familiar with reports on the matter.
The potential drone vulnerability lies in an unencrypted downlink between the unmanned craft and ground control. The U.S. government has known about the flaw since the U.S. campaign in Bosnia in the 1990s, current and former officials said. But the Pentagon assumed local adversaries wouldn't know how to exploit it, the officials said.
Today, the Air Force is buying hundreds of Reaper drones, a newer model, whose video feeds could be intercepted in much the same way as with the Predators, according to people familiar with the matter. A Reaper costs between $10 million and $12 million each and is faster and better armed than the Predator. General Atomics expects the Air Force to buy as many as 375 Reapers.

Current Music: A Place to Bury Strangers -- Keep Slipping Away

Current Status

1 EC down...

ETA:

Eventually I'd like to do at least an EC per month... That was the goal for this month, but events got in the way and it won't happen.

I also need to decide if I want to keep doing superslow. It is a fair amount of money and if the condo thing actually goes through (*) then I'm planning on tightening my belt as much as I can. This would be one place where it'd be easy to trim. But what do I replace that drug with?

*) who fuckin' knows... *shrug*

So I figured I'd pimp my art.
I just created a zazzle store that has prints* of some of my art. The two Starr** pictures from EAST are there too, and all proceeds from them will benefit Art Garden.

My husband Bob has a store too, check it out!

They're running a free shipping special all day today too. The coupon code for that is zazzleground.

( Explaining the *s )