Now that November is done, I’m finally catching up with my RSS feeds and some other items from around the net.
Here’s the humor items I had waiting for me, I’ll be back soon with lots more:
From Literally Unbelievable:
Yes, turning on Fox will help….
And here’s some great racism:
And coming in from Amazon:
And I really loved this one:
And from Catalog Living, check out this amazing entry.
And finally, The Oatmeal pops in with some illustrated tweets, a favorite:
Written: 12/10/2011
A good friend and co-worker died in a car crash over Thanksgiving.
I heard the news, and as I am wont to do, moved on quickly. I spent the entire night, talking with friends over Facebook, text message and on the phone, a trend which continued the next week and a half. I helped to write the letter to the Board, camp staff members, and the messaging we put out on Facebook.
I helped to type up the memorial service, and spent an entire day finding and cleaning up an image of my friend.
The day after his funeral, a day which ended with a bit of a mind fuck, I went to the funeral of my great aunt. I didn’t see her that often, so I wasn’t that upset, but it was sad to see my grandmother so sad.
But during her funeral, it hit me about my friend, and I had a hard time holding it together.
Whenever there’s a death, I always go into comforter and organizer mode. I’m the one who helps keep everything else from falling off the tracks, and supports everyone else. That’s just what I’m best at. I don’t let myself break down, I take care of everyone else. There are too many things to do, and there is nothing we can do to bring back the dead.
And while this has led me to another realization (which I keep forgetting to blog about, but hopefully I will soon), it’s let to another problem: I’m have the predisposition to be really emotional, and I guess that sometimes I’m afraid of showing that, especially at work, lest I lose control and spill some information and lose my job.
I actually didn’t go to my friend’s viewing, for a few reasons. First, by that point, I was so spent from spending so much time getting ready for the memorial service that I didn’t think I could really handle it. On top of that, I didn’t want to see all of my camp staff kids.
It’s strange, I’ll do just about anything for them, even if they don’t know it, or believe it. But I’m always pulling strings for them behind the scenes that they’ll never know. I like to take care of them as much as I can, although sometimes, I just need to be alone and not around that many people.
I’ll miss my friend, of course, and I hope that we can have a good season in his memory.
All my best,
The King of Spades
Once again, I’m participating in National Novel Writing Month. Usually I put up an image that shows my current wordcount and how close I am to the goal of 50,000 words (hint: I’m usually behind). This year, NaNoWriMo changed websites, so they don’t have that up and running quite yet. In the meantime, if you’re wondering, you can check out my writer stats here.
Posts will be a little thin this month as I try to once again win, and I’ll be running to write-ins (already been to two as well as the kick-off party), but fear not, I’ll be back soon, I have a lot of stuff to share!
Word-count widgets are working! Here you go:
Happy Guy Fawkes Day!
Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I know of no reason
Why the Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.
Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, ’twas his intent
To blow up the King and Parli’ment.
Three-score barrels of powder below
To prove old England’s overthrow;
By God’s providence he was catch’d
With a dark lantern and burning match.
Hulloa boys, Hulloa boys, let the bells ring.
Hulloa boys, hulloa boys, God save the King!
A penny loaf to feed the Pope.
A farthing o’ cheese to choke him.
A pint of beer to rinse it down.
A faggot of sticks to burn him.
Burn him in a tub of tar.
Burn him like a blazing star.
Burn his body from his head.
Then we’ll say ol’ Pope is dead.
Hip hip hoorah!
Hip hip hoorah!
Couple more updates for you today:
Crazy use of homeland security money. Sigh.
My friend Patrick discusses his license plate, and how it made him a celebrity. Fun story.
Unplggd has a cool article about how to keep your earbuds. Neat idea.
Here’s the duet with Siri:
This deserves its own post, but what the hell? Stealing babies from people you deem are unworthy? What the crap, Catholic church?
A fantastic headline for Occupy: We’re Here, We’re Unclear.
And as much as I don’t like his writing, Charles Mudede tells us to stop comparing Occupy to the Tea Party:
Total rubbish. If the members of the Tea Party were about deficits and big government, then they should have gone nuts under Bush. No such thing happened. They only went nuts when the president became black. There is nothing more to them than that.
I tend to agree.
And Paul Constant follows up with the inevitable usage of Godwin’s Law:
Don’t these people see an echo of the swastika in their new power symbol? Don’t they realize that the early Nazi Party was (among other things, obviously) also overtly anti-capitalist?…Don’t they know that the early Nazis tried to garner sympathy with street rallies and marches?
One month in, conservatives still have no idea how to respond to Occupy Wall Street and it is freaking them the fuck out.
They’re talking about the hashtag buy the way, the way Twitter is searched, aka, the number symbol: #
And one more political quote for you, this one from Conservative blogger Andrew Sullivan (as seen on The Daily Show, not sure where it came from first):
Bush and Saddam – One Trillion dollars and thousands of US lives.
Obama and Qaddafi – One Billion dollars and zero US lives.
Written: 10/23/2011
I’m not a football fan. I’m sure part of it comes from going to the College where the Steelers have training camp. We put up with a lot to host the most welcoming and best fan experience in the country (as consistently rated by ESPN). And I find the game boring. I’ll cheer for the Steelers, but I don’t usually watch the games.
And of course, I grew up with the Pirates….so I’m not huge into baseball. Again, I won’t root for anyone else, and I like to be cautiously optimistic, but I understand the realities of the situation.
I like watching soccer (and so many points to Ronaldo for coming out in support of marriage equality), I love the Olympics, and like many of my friends, if curling is on TV, there is just something that sucks you in and you can’t look away.
Hockey, however, is my sport. I love watching it, love rooting for the Pens. The athleticism is amazing, the pace is fast, and Pittsburgh is a great city to watch Hockey in (if only I could afford to go to the CEC). I try to keep up as much as I can with all the news about the Pens, so I can hold my own in conversations, which is a big deal for me I think. It also helps that there are a couple really, really hot players on the Pens.
But anyway, Outsports has an awesome article about hockey, one that I can’t wait to be a reality (and for me to be able to afford):
After our hockey game (he bought the tickets as a surprise), it got me thinking – will there ever be a time when I can go to a Stars game and not be afraid to kiss my boyfriend in between plays or periods?
Check it out and have a read.
Update: As a follow up, Prop 8 Trial Tracker has a cool write-up about Sean Avery’s support of New York’s marriage equality
Update 2: Not about hockey, but soccer (well, football): a professional player who tweeted out anti-gay sentiments about out Rugby star Gareth Thomas was fired for his intolerance and bigotry. While I don’t take pleasure in the fact that he lost his job, it’s nice to see sports clubs standing behind their stances for equality. Most of the American leagues (Basketball and Baseball recently) have equality in their player agreements, so it is progress, just slow going.
All my best,
The King of Spades
Goodreads has a good article up about the elimination of the Middleman in book sales and publishing. Am I the only one who is scared about the loss of book stores? Don’t get me wrong, I tend to buy a lot of books from both book stores and Amazon. But I like my experience better at the store. I can ask the sales associates for their recommendations, take my time, and maybe even write a book (we’re thinking of doing our NaNoWriMo write-ins at Barnes and Noble this year).
And additionally, I can’t quite figure out where Goodreads is coming from, it’s almost as if they’re advocating for what Amazing is saying, get rid of the middle man and let everyone publish themselves. The commenters bring up the valid point that without the publishing houses, how else will all the horrible books be taken out of the pile.
Anyway, it’s an interesting read, and it’s a scary, busy time in publishing, that’s for sure.
An interesting article over at Slog:
Those pundits and politicians who still insist that the Occupy protesters don’t have a coherent message need to bone up on their Marshall McLuhan: The medium is the message. And the protest is the medium. What’s so hard to understand about that?
…
But perhaps no aspect of these protests better illustrates McLuhan’s thesis than “the People’s mic,” which as silly as it may sound, and as mundane as its content may sometimes be, is a medium that inherently expresses a powerful message of solidarity and defiance, in and of itself.
Bigger update for everyone, hope you enjoy.
First up, please don’t die:
A really good ad, it even made copyranter tear up a bit:
Check out the Earthscraper, an underground skyscraper. On a related note, I’ve been playing SimTower, I forgot how much I love that game!
In case you didn’t see it before, Joey quits:
This comes from Hazeltown, Pa. People disgust me. And why did the editors think this was okay to run?
Apparently, there is a correlation (not a cause) between the number of Facebook friends you have and the size of parts of your brain. Strange.
Amazing video for cover-up, featuring zombie-boy from the Born This Way video:
Here’s the “list of demands” for the Zelda Symphony Orchestra concerts, it’s funny.
Just a quick comparison for you:
And check out the Brewed on Grant response to Occupy Pittsburgh, it’s fantastic.
Do you knit? Penguins need your help!
Need a hat? And a beard? Check it out:
A couple more things coming later, have a great one!
You’ll be seeing this soon. Daily Kos reports that you’ll probably start seeing it on ESPN:
