The social aspect is one of the things I miss most about playing
WoW, actually. I had a bunch of friends online that I could count on
typing to, if not every day, at least every raid night, and now I
rarely hear from them. Which I guess says something about how good of
friends they were, but these are people that I went on to meet in real
life, have dinner with, lent me boxes when I moved across the
country... They were some of the people I talked to the most. Of
course, I quit playing WoW so that I could spend more time creating -
sewing, gardening and cross stitching. Not that it always works out
that way. I seem to be spending a great deal of time playing spider
solitaire, which I haven't done since college.
And yes, we chose to have high speed internet over cable. The amount
of money cable cost per hour watched just didn't seem worth it.
I read Newsweek... my subscription doesn't expire until June.
Except the problem is, Greg, that you're arguing to keep subsidies so that small family farms can stay in business, and it's always been my understanding that they're not the ones getting subsidies.
from here "• 67 percent of all farmers and ranchers do not collect government subsidy payments in United States, according to USDA.
• Among subsidy recipients, ten percent collected 73 percent of all subsidies amounting to $120.5 billion over 11 years."
That doesn't sound like small family farms are getting by on government subsidies. That sounds like big business getting rich on corporate socialism. I'm perfectly happy to support the local family farms (thanks for the link to Local Harvest, I found a farm just a few miles away where I can get fruit/veg and fresh eggs) but I'm less inclined to support Archer Daniels Midland. If they can't make it without government money, they've got no business being an multinational corporation.
I live in a county filled with corn fields. They used to alternate with soybeans to keep the soil healthier, but with so much corn going to ethanol, they don't seem to bother anymore. And still, the beautiful rich farmland is being swallowed up by ugly subdivisions. So while I don't farm, or know people that farm, I see the effects of our current agriculture policy, and I'm unimpressed.
Well, I should hope they're inspiring. Otherwise it's not just puns we're dealing with, but ZOMBIE PUNSTERS!
(puns, chocolate, cats or zombies... bwahahaha!)
I know there are all sorts of authors here. What gave me warm
fuzzies was when I was in Borders tonight and looked down and right at
hand was a Jane Yolen box set. "I know her... indirectly..." Same
feeling I get when I hear about people I did summer theatre with
starting a cappella groups which then end up with one member on
American Idol. My brush with greatness, such as it is.
I'll throw out a thank you to all the authors who are reading, even
those I've never personally read, because you give us places to escape
to. I appreciate that immensely.
Ah! Thank you! There is one for our county, so I'll see if I can drum up any interest. This may be a great help.
And if I forgot to say thank you for the link to the garden
instructions, thank you for that as well! The instructions will be
passed on to the official tiller of land here, and hopefully I'll be
able to start transplanting my seeds and seed potatoes soon.
I have a Deep Value dilemma at the moment. In going through a
houseful of belongings I've come across lots of things that are
perfectly good, but not necessarily for us. In trying to be a good
steward, I carefully pack these things up to donate them, only to find
that charities don't want them. Goodwill turned down my 3-in-1 printer,
despite the fact that we originally got it from a Goodwill store,
because "computer things have viruses on them" and just today I was
told that Habitat for Humanity isn't taking cast iron tubs for their
ReStore because no one ever buys them. Cast iron tub! Hardly used (for
at least the past 22 years). What on earth am I supposed to do with it
now? Bury it and use it as a koi pond? (Actually, that might work... it
would probably freeze in the winter though.)
This is something that we've been discussing at my house recently.
We moved from Portland, where public transit is easy, grocery stores
were within walking distance, and it was possible to eat a diet that
was fresh and (fairly) local. Now we live in Central Illinois, where
public transit is non-existant, the nearest grocery store is 10 miles
away, and if we want fresh local food, we best start a garden
(broccoli, tomato and pepper seeds already started, actually). In
addition, we're starting a family, and getting to hear "You'll be
amazed how much stuff you'll need for a baby!" Well, we NEED a car
seat, some way to carry the baby, clothes and diapers. Everything else
just makes life easier (and more expensive and more crowded). We're
currently in the middle of clearing out my dad's house, as mentioned
previously, so I'm not really interested in bringing more stuff into
the house. Moreover, I'm tired of feeling pressured to buy more
disposable stuff all the time.
I quit my previous job in retail because I was tired of selling people
useless gadgets. You know the sort of thing that makes people go "Ooh,
that's handy!" and then never take it out of the drawer once they get
it home? I wanted to be doing something that was actually worthwhile,
or better yet, actually creating something that people could use. So
I'm trying to learn to sew, I'm starting my first ever vegetable
garden, and I'm debating whether I'm willing to invest the time
necessary to have chickens. I don't know that I want to move off the
grid entirely, but I would like to stop being driven to consume endless
quantities of lackluster goods.
Oh, and tankless water heaters won't work if you have a lot of natural
gas in your well water. I pushed for one, but apparently, being able to
light your tap water on fire makes it incompatible with the high
pressure heating? Who knew?
The directions just cement my long held opinion that Abi is probably
the coolest person I've never actually met. How do you DO that?
And, now I want to go to the Netherlands. So I'll just add that to
my list of countries I have to somehow make time (and money) for...
I don't know that I really "need" to know what people look like, but for the people that have a strong voice, it helps me imagine them talking. So now I can picture their face when I read their comment, and so the comments become more individual. Names tend to run together for me, so it helps if I can picture a face, rather than a name. It's a problem with books too. I can never remember a character's name unless the series is at least 3 books long.
Hee! Yes! Seriously, though, folks. Ice cream. It's where it's at.
I just got back from taking my dad out for his 68th birthday. He still gets carded when he asks for a senior discount. We should all grow up to be so lucky.
I look slightly manic in my photo only because I discovered that if I smile as if the most exciting thing ever has just happened (Bush impeached? Ice cream named most important food group?) then I can avoid the eyes-half-closed, slightly drugged look that is otherwise inevitable when the flash goes off. The super new cameras that have red-eye reduction flashes are unflattering to those of us with blinky eyes.
And I was on Mt. Rainier, which is certainly worth a "Squee!" anyway.
Pictures emailed to Serge. I'm loving the gallery! Will be good to be able to recognize you if I ever see any of you wandering the streets of Bloomington, Illinois...
Or perhaps more likely, if I ever make it out of this god-forsaken town and fulfill my dream of living in a country where things like universal health care and vacation time and paternity leave are considered important. /returns to plotting escape plan
Thinking about the upskirting incident, I wonder how the court would have handled it if the woman targeted had been wearing a long skirt for religious reasons. I can't help but feel that the reaction would have been entirely different, and perhaps free of the "well, she was wearing a skirt, skirts blow around, she should have been prepared for someone to see her underwear" aspect. Although the law would not have changed at all, I can't imagine the same judgment being handed down.
I'm going to play my first DnD game ever tomorrow. Thanks to this thread, I made sure to ask my friend if the GM was sadistic. Apparently not. Why am I still terrified?
But I actually WANT the Mercedes Lackey - I haven't read anything by
her since junior high, and I just read Farthing on my Christmas
holidays. It lasted almost the whole flight.
They can get chlamydia though.
Wow. Just... wow. Saying anything about it seems so callous now. That's just nuts.
Patrick's latest sidelight on immigration officials and the baby isn't linking for me in Firefox. Aggravating, because I read the headline and thought "WHAT???" So I look forward to finding out the rest of the story.
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