Morning tasks

So... what did YOU do before work this morning?

Oh, I showered and got dressed, fed the guinea pig, played with the kitten, balanced an account, scrubbed battery corrosion off an old handheld microscope and checked continuity on a tiny lightbulb...

WHEEE!!! The joys of morning life!

Concert: Dave Matthews Band

Went to see Dave Matthews Band in Saratoga last night.  The concert was crowded.  Sold out.  We ended up sitting next to the pee fence to avoid the majority of people.  It's right by the woods which is right by a river of sorts and we only saw one mosquito (although I suspect I was bitten at least once or twice).  At least four guys asked us if we were OK with them peeing through the fence.  I didn't mind that they were doing it but I sure was jealous (I really had to go, too, but didn't until we left the concert... and when I saw the bathrooms I had wished I had just held it until I exploded, those bathrooms were gross).  Still, the seating arrangement we chose for ourselves was far better than getting trampled and getting high on second-hand pot smoke.

Other than the crowd, gross bathrooms, bad musical location, and such, though, it was pretty good... I enjoyed the fact that the entire crowd knew at least half the songs and sang along in one large choir.  We also had a good view of a big screen, so we saw the band in essence.  We were in a particularly good spot to observe the singing phenomenon, though, and it was pretty cool to watch.  Can't get that on an album.  The energy was mixed up, too, with excitement and partying.  LOTS of young people there.  It's amazing to see a band like DMB with so many younger people.  They're much like Chicago (probably more so, maybe) in that regard.

Goes to show you that the great bands continue to attract admirers.  I bet there won't be any young people at a Britney Spears concert twenty years from now!

Of course, I still fell asleep about 10pm and woke up about 11ish.  We hit the bathrooms and listened to more of the concert as we left... I was too tired at that point to deal with any more crowd and was getting panicky.  We both had water under our feet in the bathrooms.  I told Dale that mine was actually flowing under my shoes and I didn't want to touch anything at all.  Sooo gross... but the relief was almost worth it... I didn't even wash my hands for fear of something worse being at the sinks.  I even showered when we got home, even though I'd slept for another hour on the ride back.

Anywho, at the bathroom point, the band had just barely had a short break.  I can't believe they performed for three solid hours and the break they did get was short.  Crazy!!  We could actually hear the /band/ a bit better from the outside, at least until a certain point, and we got out of the parking lot really quickly which was an added plus.

Chicago is playing at SPAC in August.  I've never seen them and am very tempted to see what a Chicago concert is like these days, but half the band has been replaced a few times over and it's hard to imagine actually paying to see a band that has only gone downhill from my perspective.  But, it'll be really close by, not that far out of our way, really, for a concert.  It seems wrong to not go somehow.  LOL  We'll see.

domain transfers COMPLETE!!

It's final. All my domains are now transferred to a new hosting company. Well, with the exception of one, which was too close to expiration. So, I purposely lost it and will see if it's still around when it's done being tied up in auction. Whatever. I wasn't about to renew it at the original registrar because I'm still mad at them. While transferring my last domain, I noticed that the contact information on that domain was still out of date. How many damned places does one need to change information? For the domain alone, there were FOUR. That's on top of all the other places I'd already modified my stats.

I also got emailed at two email addresses about the same domains from the same registrar. They obviously have no bloody clue how to apply profile information across the board - not even on the same domain! I'm glad I'm finally done with them.

One good point is that this time, I noticed that I can accept a domain tranfer... I hadn't seen that before. I went in and accepted right away. I think maybe it's private registration that causes the real messy scenarios of denying transfers, but I'm not sure... this time it went within minutes. Of course, it was my second try, and private registration was already ousted.

:: happy sigh ::

~w

WHEEEEEeeeeeeee!!!!!

Whee? WHEEEEEEeeeee!!!! WHEE! Wheeeee....

WHEEEEE!!!

That's really all I have to say today. I'm simply happy. It's a good state to be in.

~w

capd to a T

http://qw88nb88.wordpress.com/living-with-auditory-processing-disorder/

I could NOT have stated any of this any better myself, ever, ever, ever.  Even the strategies and the desires states are exactly what I do and wish others would do.  One of the last bits, about how all the abilities to compensate deteriorate during illness or being tired, is something I've been increasingly aware of.  It's like night and day at times... I have a great day at work, only to wake up the next day with a cold or without enough sleep, or with too much stress... and meetings or just generally having to deal with people is like telling me I need to go shove my foot into a furnace.  I cringe upon looking forward to it and feel my whole being sag inside.  Then I struggle to understand half of what's going on, and to make it worse, the one thing I wish people would do - give me an agenda well ahead of time - is not done, so I have to guess at what the subject is about.

So... Unfortunately, not everyone listens... funny, how someone who CAN listen, doesn't bother, and someone who has trouble understanding speech, tries to listen so damned hard, only to be scolded in some way.  And no, this has not recently happened, but it does happen regularly.  It's one of the fun things about being involved in projects.  Yay, whoo hoo...

:: sarcasm ::

:: end sarcasm ::

I hate society's norms.

-nv

Guinea Pig Part III

Nikon and I have established a routine, I think.  I come downstairs each day about 6:30am and go, "Hellloooooo!" at which point I remove the cover to the cage.  He responds by popping out of his PVC and going, "Whee whee whee whee WHEE WHEE WHEE WHEE?!" to which I respond by saying, "Oh, my goodness!  Are we hungry?"  Then I saunter off to the fridge to get his greens.

This is where a guinea pig is making me eat healthier each day instead of just whenever I feel like it.  I have to try a piece of his greens because it's there.  Then, I have to bite off a large piece of strawberry because he won't eat the entire thing anyway.  I also bite off a piece of carrot to ensure it's OK.  (Yeah, that's it.)  Then he gets the rest and the wheeks turn off for a while.  I hand him a piece of green stuff and he snatches it from my fingers and drags it into his PVC pipe.  Munch, munch, munch, munch.  At this point I then dump the remaining veggies onto his veggie plate, change his water, and add more grain stuff to his dish.

I purposely put his cage near my desk so I can talk to him whenever I am home.  Last night he decided he was needier than usual and began wheeking at me whenever I left his cage.  He wouldn't let me pick him up.  He just wanted me to chase him around his cage.  I know he actually wanted me to chase him around his cage because as soon as I came over the loud wheeking would be replaced by contented little warbles and a devious eyeball.  He'd come out just long enough for my hand to get near, then he'd run back through the PVC pipe, come out the other end, and do a popcorn on his way into the oatmeal box, another one on his way out, slam into the Hefty box with the hay in it, and come bolting out back toward the PVC, making another popcorn and tossing his head.  This would repeat several times.  If I tried to walk away, the loud wheeking would return.

I knew going into this that guinea pigs are very social creatures, so I knew I had to be his social contact pretty frequently.  The loud wheeking after 20 minutes of being his captive audience, however, when I only wanted to be three feet away, was getting on my nerves just a smidgeon.  So, I decided he needed some bathroom time.  By that I mean I plopped him and his toys on the bathroom floor, along with him, and said, "Have at it."

Now that I think about it, that was mean.  I'd been gone all day and the poor little bugger was only claiming my evening after being alone all day.  But he made quite a mess in there so it was obvious he was all over the place, exploring.  I am hoping that it took his mind off his missing playmate for a while.  I was REALLY tired last night!  And, when he got back in his cage, he looked tired, too.

Oh, the other part of my days now:  When I get home at night, I now stop for a large handful of grass.  I usually go out each morning for a handful, too.  And as soon as I'm home, I also go to the fridge amidst the wheeks and get him his greens again, with whatever other treat I can come up with.

Shopping has changed, too.  I wandered around the market last time, anxiously wondering if the guy filling the produce area was going to replace all the missing mixed greens.  It was with a great sigh of relief when I wandered back through and found a couple boxes of the stuff in their places.  Phew!!  And I love strawberries, but now the box is actually dwindling instead of rotting.  Guinea pigs to add a special dimension to one's life.  And they have the cutest little butts.  :)

Now, if only I can figure out what the rumbling sound is... sometimes he makes it when I'm petting him (when he lets me pet him) and other times he makes it at sounds.  It would seem he doesn't like the sounds, so does that mean he really hates me petting him?  :: shrug ::  About the only things I have learned for sure are that the loud wheeks mean he wants something, the software ones are a form of contentment, the popcorns seem happy and energetic, and the silent shaking is terror.  I really don't like the shaking.  He doesn't do it much now but yesterday I took him outside for grass and on the way in, he began doing that again.  He's really not fond of being picked up.  It's unfortunate, because I thought constantly picking them up would solve that.  It's taking a long time and it hurts to keep pushing the issue.  At the same time, I'm afraid that pushing it is the only way to get him to accept it.  /Sigh.  Maybe if I get him used to my petting him in his cage, he'll trust my hands enough to stop fearing them when they slide under his body.

Aight, off to go find the little nerd.  I hear little noises right now.  Sounds like he's playing and talking to himself again.  :D

~w

New apartment!

No, not for us... for a friend.  We got to see his new place down the road from us today.  Nice and spacious.  Even though it's an older place, the carpeting and electrical were done up newish and reminded me a lot of my first apartment... or, technically, my second one.  That brought back a lot of memories.  The first thing he did was set up his internet connection.  All he had in the house were some sprayers of cleaning solution, sponges, his laptop, new router, modem, a bottle of water, and a radio.  The fridge wasn't even turned on yet.  He showed me Technet, which I remember someone telling me to subscribe to years ago in order to obtain MS products and such for testing.

He's about a decade younger than me so it was really easy to look back on how excited I was while I listened to him go on and on about stuff.  Very cool.  Then I looked at Dale and said, "Let's go home and have dinner," and we left, and talked about how cluttered our house is now and how we should really change some stuff up, etc.  I have since cleared off my desk again.  Does wonders to visit an empty house, still devoid of objects de living.  LOL.

But the funny thing is that I so nearly began feeling homesick for my old place, and then my mind quickly drifted to "our" first place, then to this one.  That made me stop longing for my past happiness and focus on the present happiness again.  Made me feel kinda old, too, looking back on something like that and so quietly and effortlessly accepting that I'm in a different place in my life now.

Speaking of different place, I'm ready for sleep and need to go say hi to Nikon before bed, too.  He's been quietly muttering to himself over there all night.  :)

~nv

wheeness

I just (re-)learned a valuable thing, in the weirdest of places (genealogy).

Anger is a weapon only to one's opponent.

At least, that blip from the whole "Tae Kwon Leep Boot To The Head" skit is what I remembered as a summary of my recent experience. Really, my experience was that I /wanted/ to be a jerk back to someone who I deemed was acting like a jerk about an innocent oversight, and instead, because of the situation, I took the high road, acknowledged the oversight (which was someone else's), and fixed the error, stating as much.

This is the second time in 24 hours that I've done something like this. While my first impulse was reactive anger, I have to admit that being a "bigger" person in the matters feels better than spouting off more anger would have felt. And, in the genealogical case, it brought an apology in response to mine.

It is VERY hard to hold back anger, especially on the internet, and especially when it seems so obviously justifiable. It's something I can only strive to accomplish more often.

~w

health

Health is a wonderful thing. I am lucky that despite a few weird things here and there, like an extra mini-stomach that died and the occasional bout of kidney stones, stitches, and the time I swallowed a pill as a kid, that I've been pretty healthy. The longest-lasting, most annoying problem I've ever had was plantar fasciitis, and for the most part, that's pretty much healed now after four years of misery.

Tonight I played table tennis for the second time in as many weeks, and it was awesome. I could once again feel the power in my legs, the weight of the muscle behind the slight layer of fat that had accumulated over the past few years. I could feel the adrenaline kicking in, feel my blood coursing through my veins and arteries, feel the endorphins as my brain swelled with oxygen and nutrients. My eyes got blurry for a while and I could barely see the ball, but I wasn't about to stop there. Every time I bent to pick up a flyaway, I could feel the heftiness of my thighs and calves working in unison. I especially loved to toss the ball under one leg before serving, proof of the increasing coordination and regained balance that I had thought I'd lost. I felt colour in my cheeks and a bit winded at times. It was indeed, awesome. And my foot didn't complain until Ron's speech, when we all stopped moving and I had to stand there, my back beginning to talk, my feet uncomfortable, the left foot beginning to seize up in mock agony. I eventually walked over to the benches and sat down with my mountain dew. Ron is very long-winded, even if he means well.

Further evidence of my foot's progress: A couple months ago, I went dancing with a friend for three hours and my foot barely noticed. Oh, it noticed once it was no longer moving, mind you, but the pain went away within two days. This was an incredible feat! I was ecstatic. Just prior to that, I had gone on a couple of trips that involved some walking. That was painful, but it didn't last long once I got off my feet.

Knowing that this foot thing isn't totally strong yet, though, I kept thinking that I should go swimming or something to at least get exercise while taking it "easy" otherwise. I went swimming a lot last winter and got pretty good at it. I finally ventured into deep water over my head and began to slowly drift away from the sides of the pool. I have yet to jump off a diving board or even off the edge, but I was really close to doing it a couple of times. Last summer, I swam at the pond many times and even ventured too far, but when I got spooked about it, I remembered not to panic. "I can do this," I thought to myself. "If I get tired, I simply fall over onto my side or my back and get back to shore. No biggie." And I did. But this winter, I haven't been once to the pool. I've kept myself busy with other things, I suppose, but mostly, I've made excuses. My hair's too long. I'm too busy. I don't feel like it. I don't have anyone to go with this time. Blah blah blah.

However, recently, Dale and I took up Yoga. I'd like to say we're good about doing it every single day, but in truth, we're not. We kept it up a solid week and then skipped a week and now it seems it's every few days. Better than nothing. What amazes me about that is how taxing it is, yet it seems so simple and easy. The nice thing about it is that we can do it at home, it's good for stretching, good for balance, good for flexibility, and believe it or not, good for some form of endurance. It's also relaxing even as it's energizing. Once it's over, I almost want to do another set. My back had been bothering me quite a bit, mostly when standing, and while standing is still a no-no after five minutes, the pain has greatly diminished since beginning yoga. Perhaps the best thing about yoga is that it doesn't hurt my foot whatsoever - provided I'm careful on certain poses, if I do them at all. It's a gooood thing.

Tonight I got home and after some photography, realized I was starving. I got out the salad greens and threw some shredded cheese and pepperoni sandwich things in there, and ate a lot of it. It's what I really wanted, not what I thought I should have. I wish I had more at the moment but it's getting late for food so I'll head upstairs to read instead.

Health is a good thing. Having my foot back, even in part, was good. Having it back 90% of the way is tremendously awesome. I had forgotten how much I like to simply be able to run about and feel my muscles contracting without having to worry about excruciating pain at every step and even after taking weight off things. It's A-W-E-S-O-M-E.

~w

sleeping phenomenon #10971

Last night, I was out like a light a bit earlier than expected.

8:30pm:  I was watching Caprica and making a playlist on my laptop.

8:45pm:  I heard Dale disappear into the kitchen while I felt my consciousness suddenly start slipping away.  Within seconds, I was very close to being paralyzed, but figured it was almost ten so it was OK.  I heard Dale's voice protesting and I managed to answer that it was almost ten.  His voice faded out on me as my eyes opened briefly enough for me to get a quick glance at the time on my laptop.  It was really quarter to nine.  I thought, "Shit, this is interesting, why am I so tired?"  The next thing I can remember is sensing that my laptop had started to shift on my lap, and my hand moved to pull it closer to me.  All audio stimulation at that point completely shut off on me.  I don't even remember dreaming this time, only wondering why so freakin' early.

1am:  Something told me I must wake up because Dale was putting a blanket on me and was trying to see if I would go up to bed or not.  I managed to rise - rather energetically, in fact, which is unusual - and got spooked by the fact my laptop was missing.  Dale explained that he'd removed it.  He also told me:

- I fell asleep at quarter to nine.

- ALMOST nothing at all would rouse me.  He had watched TV, stomped across the floor several times, talked to me, did some other stuff, and eventually removed my laptop.

- The ONLY thing I woke up for was when he took a picture of me sleeping.  Apparently I woke just enough to give him some look and fall back asleep, like I'd heard the sound his camera was making.  I asked if he'd used the flash and he said no, it was just the sound alone that woke me.

- He then asked why the heck I had so much energy at 1am.  Then he fell asleep within minutes.

- I laid back down thinking I'd never fall back asleep, and wondering at the weirdness that is sleep for me, and the next thing I knew, I was wide awake and staring at the daylight in the window, wondering where the daylight had come from at 1:15am.  It turns out it was 6:30.

Not only did I fall asleep an hour and fifteen minutes earlier than my first normal sleep point, but I also woke a half an hour late.  And this is after the spring ahead time change, too, which makes it even stranger.

I'm telling you, this whole sleeping thing is not my idea.  Similar things have been happening since I was a little girl.  For years, Mum thought I was doing it on purpose and would sometimes even yell at me or put me down for it.  Other than getting into bed whenever darkness begins to fall outside, I honestly don't know how to get around it.  It's like Narcolepsy on a schedule.  Yet, I have been able to overcome it (with consequences of course) in order to do a few lan parties from time to time... but it involves LOTS of caffeine and excitement and sheer willpower to accomplish my staying up until 4am, and then I wake up at 7 or 8am, fall asleep earlier than usual, wake up later than usual, and am quite cranky and weirder than usual for a week or so.

iPod Touch

I do not know how I've lived without the iPod Touch...

Why is it that every time I've obtained an Apple product, I've realized just how "necessary" it is, even when I was thinking practically and refused to get one for a long time?  What is it?  lol

~w

More happiness

One thing I forgot that I loved about camping... looking at the stars with Dale...

:D

~w

Happy happy joy joy!

My favourite things this past week...

CAMPING
- Camping in a little cabin with Dale, despite a hard bunk and homesickness.
- Woodstoves in little cabins.
- Outhouses over trees.
- Elly the Forest Cat.
- Hot dogs over a camp fire.
- Building fires successfully the first time each time (all four times)!!
- Reading with Dale at a picnic table

HOME
- Coming home to a clean house.
- Spending time with the cats.
- Watching the birds at the feeder.
- Looking out the window and across the street.
- Watching TV with Dale.
- Doing Yoga with Dale (new activity, we seem to like it so far).
- Drinking tea.
- Writing note to mail carrier.

TECH
- Playing on my computer(s) - photos, email, facebook, et al.
- Setting up my iPod and discovering all the cool things it does (it's so small, crikeys).
- Synching devices with services.
- Setting up smart playlists in iTunes to automatically synch music I've not listened to in a while while still keeping highly rated items as well.
- Evernote. 'Nuff said.
- Google. They recently emailed me to mention that my account was about to autorenew and I would be charged, so it was my last chance to change my mind. That's very good juju. I didn't want to change my mind, but I appreciate their mentioning it in case my CC changed, etc.
- The elegance of iOS 5.1. It's way cool. I still can't get over how slick it is in such a small form factor.
- Writing batch files.
- The extra large pockets in my cargo pants. Good for stowing stuff. :)

WORK
- Coming back to work and finding my desk as neat as I left it, and efficient.
- Diving into my work and actually accomplishing things.
- The quiet created by recently moving desks.
- The people I work with.
- The laptops I set up fresh, and get to use my batch files on, making the process more efficient.
- WAIK, which one of my colleagues set up, OMG, so much more efficient when setting up a laptop... still love it...
- Going out to lunch with my colleague/friend.
- Feeling helpful.
- Feeling logical.

We are SO privileged

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46037-2004Dec8.html

Hardtack, during long marches, infested with worms.  'Nuff said.  Parents should take note and use this more local cuisine to threaten their children with.  Methinks it would be far more effective than "you know, some starving kid in Africa would love to eat those vegetables."  Too cliché, no?  What about "you know, a civil war soldier would have loved some of those vegetables.  How'd you like to end up with scurvy?"

At the least, it would give a bit more of a history lesson and teach kids what sorts of malnourished threats exist.

~w

ill diet

I am finding this interesting. Yesterday, I was too tired to consider making much of anything for myself to eat. I eventually got up and heated some soup, which Dale had graciously left a can of in a clean pot alongside another pot with a different kind of canned soup in it. I chose my childhood favourite, Campbell's, which I watered down a bit to boot. I saved the noodle half for today's soup. I also snagged some leftover rice pudding with a dollop of whipped cream and dumped cinnamon all over it. Otherwise, all I really had all day was crunchy noodles and a glass of water which Dale refilled when he got home. I know I did not consume enough food or liquid yesterday, but se la vie.

Today, I had four slices of toast, the remainder of the soup, a glass of water, three cups of tea, and three helpings of flattened rice with spices dumped in. Oh, and more rice pudding, though I forgot about the cinnamon, which is now calling my name. I find these cravings interesting because I just began sweating a short while ago, which somehow felt really good even though I typically don't sweat much even in the summer, and realised that garlic and cayenne promote sweating. I still haven't figured out why I'm craving cinnamon but I've no doubt I'll be consuming it - for some intuitive reason - soon.

The human body is an amazing thing and I am wholly convinced that it knows what it needs at times, probably more often than I pay attention to, and I think I pay attention more than most people these days. I don't know if asafoetida, curry powder, turmeric, or cumin have any positive effects on cold/flu bugs, but whenever I get the craving for this rice glop stuff I've been making as of late, I very much want those spices in the mix with the cayenne and garlic. Perhaps it's just for added flavour? I'll need to look those guys up and see what they do for a person's body. I won't be surprised if my body is welcoming them on purpose right now.

Ginger - I almost added that this round but ate a piece instead while cooking. The hot flavour was nice considering I couldn't taste much yesterday. That could be another reason for the desire of spice. I recall a friend stating that when he's sick, he likes to consume hot, spicy foods so he can actually TASTE something. He also said it cuts through mucous (true). Anywho, ginger is another item that promotes circulation at least. I suspect I need it, as well.

~nv

History lesson

I've been home sick the past two days. What does one do when they're too tired to get up, but alert enough to not be sleeping during the day? TV. Ayup. Illness probably permits me to watch more TV than I'd ever otherwise care to, and whittle down our Netflix "instant" list. It also tends to keep me off the computer for the longest period of time other than when camping (sometimes).

Anywho, one of the items I've watched today is Ancient Inventions with Terry Jones. In addition to being informative, it's entertaining to some extent... but back to informative. I've come to some realisations because of this. Here are some things I've learned so far:

- Greek fire was actually invented by an Assyrian named Callinicus in the 11th century.
- Rifling has been around for a lot longer than the last few centuries.
- Multi-level apartment buildings have been around since at least Roman times.
- Archimedes' screw dates back to about the 3rd century B.C.
- Concrete was from Roman times as well, and created a water-resistant type for pipes and foundations.
- Skin grafts have been happening in India since 2500 B.C. or earlier.
- Much of medical technology was invented because of war.
- The tank was conceptualised millennia ago - one such tank was on four wheels, with a wooden frame, covered in rawhide, and powered by slaves running beneath it.
- The taxi meter was invented by Romans - actually, the odometer! Each turn of one wheel would cause a slight rotation of a gear which would eventually rotate another gear. This last gear had holes in it with round pebbles that would fall into a small box after so many turns of the wheel. A passenger would pay according to the number of stones in the box.
- The Chinese created the printing press, and the Koreans came up with moveable, metal typesets.
- The idea of the "address" was known in Venice about 1000 years ago.
- Rome was serving take-out a long time ago.
- The hamburger was also around during Roman times... ground beef, wine, pine nuts, fried, in some sort of roll... yep, the hamburger...
- The steam engine was actually around in 50 B.C. - the Greeks knew of it!
- Housing has been around almost since Man has existed.
- Heron created a slot machine for dispensing water. He also created a fire engine with a water pump.
- New York got its first street light in 1761. But they came out long before that in Rome, probably some sort of oil lamp. China used natural gas through bamboo pipes and used it for lighting. They also filled bladders with this gas and created gas lamps out of them.
- The flush toilet has been around since 1886. It was invented by Thomas Crapper. Rome had communal lavatories but used sponges on sticks, which were kept in buckets of saltwater. The Chinese were using toilet paper in 6th Century A.D.
- Makeup, contraceptives, female condoms, and pregnancy tests have existed since ancient times. Ancient Egypt had a slave strike because they had run out of makeup. They needed to protect their skin from sun and had to have their sunblock!! They also had lip gloss, eye liner, foundation, and applicators, and even buried kits with the deceased. Razors date back to over 4000 years ago and so do wigs. There were even false beards - and even women wore them. The male condom existed in Rome - sheep bladders. Casanova, in fact, described his own version of this as being reusable. Crocodile dung and soured milk were an Egyptian's way to prevent pregnancy. Acids in crocodile dung are powerful spermicides, as moden science has come to find out. The current "pill" still uses progesterone from the wild yam, which was once used by Indians in New Mexico for contraception. In 700 B.C., doctors would soak cloth in a flower's sap and used these as pregnancy tests.
- Kissing on the mouth supposedly came about in ancient Rome. Prior to that, it was reserved between mother and child.
- 823 A.D. saw its first known salon in Spain. The same guy invented hot wax hair removal, toothbrushes, and deodorant.
- 4th Century B.C. had showers. (Yay!!)
- Rose oil was created via distillation in 876 A.D.
- "Gymnasium" comes from Ancient Greek meaning "exercise naked."
- The first known mechanical clock was created to regulate the sex life of the emperor of China in 8th Century A.D. The emperor's heir was based on the conception of each child. 121 women attended to him in a certain order, and eventually he slept with the Empress. Clocks did not appear in Western life until 14th century and was used to time celibacy.
- Clepsidra had a "water" clock to time her patrons. She was a prostitute. When a bowl with a hole drilled in the bottom fell to the bottom of a larger vessel of water, her patron's time was up.
- Sex has not always been "bad" - some cultures felt sex was a religious practice to be celebrated.
- Privacy came about with the invention of the corridor - late 17th century.
- Keys were invented over 4000 years ago. They were notched pegs with strings attached to them.
- Human sweat contains all sorts of chemicals that act as aphrodisacs, and the Greeks would rub themselves with olive oil, followed by scraping off dirt and sweat with a special stick, dropping the oil into a bowl. Wealthy women would pay to have this substance smeared on their faces.
- Steroids, estrogen, testosterone, and progesterone were obtained by the Chinese by evaporating urine. They used these hormonal treatments over 2000 years prior to Western uses. They were taken via pill form.
- The sling was probably invented by a woman to hold her baby. Prior to this, humans had body hair for their children to cling to.

What strikes me is that soooooo many of these inventions are still in use today with very little improvement. It seems that many inventions from hundreds to thousands of years ago were simply set aside because they didn't seem to have any real use at the time.

That's my history lesson for today. :D

~w

blah

So I was a bit down for a few days there, finally got over it today, only to come home to a very exhausted and droopy Dale. That would have been tolerable but then I made the mistake of making ribs, with bone-in, without considering that Dale has a sliced thumb right now and couldn't properly hold them to eat it. Even slicing off some of the meat for him just made him droop more.

I think I'm going to bury my head in my ass for a while. Reading sounds really nice, a bit of escape perhaps.

~nv

FOOOOOOD

Dinner: Haddock, maple-glazed carrots (Dale's cooking project tonight), and freshly baked bread (from bread maker) with freshly pressed thyme-butter (my project tonight).

Yum!!

~nv

Monty Python STILL rocks!!

I'd forgotten that the end of the movie has another French taunting!!!!!

"So, you think you could out-clever us French folk with your silly knees bent running about advancing behaviour?! I'll wave my private parts at your aunties, you cheezy lot of second hand electric donkey bottom biters!"

"I burst my pimples at you and call your door opening request a silly thing, you tiny brained wipers of other people's bottoms!!"

WHOO HOOOOOO I love the french tauntings... oh, man, my insides are exploding... and it's really cool when they get shat on... LOLOLOL

These people were geniuses.

Nice castle, too. I understand one get a tour at Castle Stalker certain times of the years. Whups, I mean, sorry... Castle Arrrrrrrrghhhh... HAHAHAHAHA Might have to do that when we go to Scotland!!!!!

~w

SOPA and PIPA

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Online_Piracy_Act

Yep, I'm learning about it due to Wikipedia's blackout.

Here are a few points I'd like to make, since we're going to drag down every site owner out there by letting this shit pass.

I think music companies should be able to sue each other NOW.  I've been noting lately how many songs sound a lot like others, they're just rearranged in some way, or only using a small piece of what's in another song.  But by that logic, as soon as someone hums one note, you've committed copyright infringement.  By even talking about it, you've committed a crime, because you might encourage someone to go out and listen for themselves, or buy the other party's music, thus not buying the original party's music.

Every time you utter a single word out of the english language, you are using someone else's ideas.  What is the difference between Intellectual Property and an Idea?  Not much.  The big difference is that IP is officially owned by someone and ideas are up for grabs.  Copyrights and other such official registrations are bullshit, really, for many things, because it really only belongs to the first person who /registers/ it, not the person who originated the concept.  So it's unfair to begin with and simply capitalizing on more shit.

Every time you paint, you're copying someone else's work.  Trust me, that zig zag you just drew?  Some little kid drew that in kindergarten, and I guarantee that an artist could sue a little kid if they really wanted to simply by copyrighting their freakin' work.

Do you see where I'm going with this?

America is turning into a sue-fest, where creativity is being recognized, swiped, capitalized on, and then the thief cries wolf when someone does it to them.  Now, I'm perfectly happy to pay someone who has toiled and troubled, if I like it.  I am also willing to pay MORE to someone who has perfected someone else's work because you know what?  If the person who created the thing in the first place could do it RIGHT the first time, I would have given THEM my dough.  I want to honour people who deserve it by supporting them, not these wannabe creepshows who want everything for doing nothing, or for doing very little.  Making a quick buck, though... it's the American Way.  Right?

Where do you draw the line between an original work and common knowledge?  Who should be allowed to make that determination?  Where do you draw the line between a government that has a few laws in place to prevent mayhem and one that controls everything we do or say?  But beyond all of that... This is the biggest question I want answered:  Why is the government being allowed or encouraged to even THINK of having a law stating that the non-responsible parties are going to be held responsible?  This brings me right back to my eighth-grade science class when there were like 40 kids and three in the very back whom I didn't know (nor care to know) were talking.  The entire class got punished because of three people and we were told that it was because none of us told them to shut their traps.  In other words, the teacher, instead of doing her job and yanking their sorry asses out of class and marching them to the Principal's office, held us responsible for their actions.  You know what I did after that?  I talked incessantly the rest of the year, to make up for the injustice.

I learned that business is not your friend.  It's a good thing to have it - it causes some healthy competition, jobs, income, and that nebulous thing we call "economics."  But your employer is not there to protect you.  It's there to purchase your services and it tells you what to do while you're under their thumb.  You have to sign non-disclosures, hand in your urine samples, and all sorts of other things so they can protect themselves, their rights, etc.  WE HAVE NO RIGHTS.  Seriously.  When we get right down to it, we are slowly signing what few we have left, away, but simply not paying attention, standing up, etc.

I don't give a damn about the Wall Street shit that's been going on.  That, to me, is pathetic.  Permitting more suing, however, has got to stop.  Holding the non-responsible people responsible is not going to work, it'll cause a revolution, it'll cause goodspeak, it'll cause 1984 to finally happen.

"You're crazy."  "I'm not crazy, now listen--"  "Insanity is characterized by stating one is not crazy."  "Okay... so what if I state I /am/ crazy?"  "Then you've taken the first step to recovery."

Did you know that some bright dumbasses have released 3 million mosquitoes into an area so they mate with the females and die off?  I know, I know, we're "protecting our fellow peoples by preventing disease from spreading to them through infected mosquitoes."  Yeah, okay, that's great.  For now.  Then their grandkids starve because you didn't think of the chain effect of killing off another critter's food supply.  Did you know that dragonflies eat mosquitoes?  It's their staple diet.  I have a better idea.  Let's compete with them over the mosquitoes instead.  Mosquitoes eat blood, right?  Thus if you eat a mosquito, you're getting protein and iron.  Let's be more efficient by eating the mosquitoes ourselves.

Morons.  Stay the hell out of our lives.  Unless, of course, you wish to fix the English language by yanking all websites, periodicals, and other publications that have blatant typos in them.  Start with this one.  Please.

~w

ps I'm pretty angry about this.  Can you tell?  I think there are reasons I tend to stay away from the news.  Thanks, Wikipedia, for making me too angry to even write coherently.  I believe in your cause, I do, but dammit, I really wish I didn't have to know about more of this stupidity.