guiltyred

Jou always finds the best online crack!

There is a site that originally wanted to be a health-info search-all. It set up its searches to cast far and wide across the web, and opened its virtual doors for service.

It did not, however, remember the Three Cardinal Rules of Online Cover-Your-Ass:
1. NEVER go live without going through a beta period and finding and squashing all embarrassing bugs first;
2. NEVER overlook the potential for users to be smartasses and find hilarity in your shortcomings; and
3. NEVER but NEVER rely on Wikipedia for non-lol purposes.

And now I give you...Healthbase.net's suggested treatments for Mary Sue.

Go ahead, have some fun before they figure out the bugs!

Apparently gray wolves aren't considered an endangered species anymore, despite their still-precarious foothold in the United States. And in Idaho and Montana, the powers-that-be have decided that 1000 wolves is too many: they have authorized a hunt to the tune of 70,000 hunting permits expected to be sold in Idaho alone. The quota is a mere 300 wolves total; there is of course no chance that hunters will err/lie outright and cap more than the allotted amount, right?

Maureenlycaon sums this up better than I can right now.

Wolves are a very emotional subject for me. When I first read about the hunt, I freaked the heck out. Then I read a very coherent and thoughtful comment about why this might be a good thing: the more wolves come into contact with humans and domesticated animals, the greater the chance for disaster (not least of which, I observed, is the chance for dog/wolf hybrids that are not afraid of humans and which might be carriers of rabies). At the time, I thought it was a smaller, controlled hunt under discussion.

But 70,000 permits?? To kill 300 animals across 2 states??? And I'll tell you, if you click on the link in Maureen's post about the first wolf killed in this slaughter, the cowboy-machismo of the killer will make you sick. These people aren't about keeping wild and domestic separate by force, they're about trophies and scoring the kill before their buddies.

It's enough to make me puke.

The Defenders of Wildlife have a special page set up to educate about this heinous situation and other threats to America's gray wolf populations. They have a form letter you can customize, to send to President Obama urging immediate action to place the wolves back on the endangered list.

I have now written to two U.S. presidents - Carter and Obama. Both times, it was about the wolves. I really hope things get fixed and stay fixed for this beautiful animal.

Please, step up and speak up. This is urgent.

We're not game-players here; no time for it and less patience. Also lacking a PSP or a Wii, which makes gaming kind of difficult.

No, we're into watching cutscenes like an anime series. And our current quest is Understanding Kingdom Hearts. Seriously. There's been much MST3K-ing in our apartment these past few days, ever since loading up the original KH cutscenes and staring blankly at the computer till our eyes bled chowing down on all the junk food in our home while trying to figure out what the deuce was going on.

I've tried to read through the scripts of KH1 and KH2, and I keep hitting one thing that throws me into utter confusion. Before I lure my sweetie into a viewing of KH2, I sought out the answer so that I could lord it over my unsuspecting other half conveniently and casually toss it out at the opportune moment to earn myself a thank-you snog. And so, as anyone with a question and the permanent impression of an advertising campaign drilled into their head would do, I went to Ask.com - and asked The KH Question of Doom.

Dear Ask.com: in kingdom hearts, what is the difference between a heartless and a nobody?

The first link looked promising - also highly entertaining. And so, I went there, and now take you there with me to marvel at the heretofore unexpected answer: Heartless and Nobodies

Clears it all up, don't it? :3

11 Sexy Photos Totally Ruined By People in the Background

It's pretty bad, just as you might think from the title - but picture #11 is pure gold. XD

While browsing through Snopes.com for drabble fodder (the FFVII_100 comm on IJ is doing Urban Legends this week), I tripped over one story that's just too sweet to keep to myself.

Jasmine the Greyhound

Enjoy the smiles!

Okay, this is righteous: What's in the box. The link goes to a streaming video, and the first two seem to be part of the same story - the very first reminded me of some kind of video game. And the situation reminded me strongly of something you'd find in a FFVII ShinRa-backed science disaster.

ETA - Another dam link :3

And if TROUT!!!! wasn't enough for you, apparently Sensei Ping will be on DWTS!

Yes, we're rewatching it, cheesy animation, plotholes and all. And while we're going for the Japanese dialog with subtitles, we are, of course, revisiting the absolutely vital outtakes after each disc. (There were bells, on the hills, but I never heard them ringing...)

Damn but I missed that show! :3

We got through the Takatori arc in one day, will attempt the second half of Kapitel over the weekend. Not sure when we'll get to Glühen, but it's kind of inevitable at this point.

I did have a weird, almost zen crossover moment. You know that episode with the highly-addictive and lethal health drink Freude? I totally expected the girls to start snarling "TROUT!" Yes, yes I did go there. It was almost too easy. (It's a good thing Ken got his girlfriend on that plane before her heart could explode like a sausage casing full of weasels. *nodnod*)

So, a question for all my WK-fandom friends out there: What's your favorite episode, and why? (If you can't pick, how about your favorite outtake? Plenty of those to choose from, too!) I'm not sure I can pick a favorite episode, for many reasons, but I think the tentaclemonster!Masafumi piano moment has to be my choice of outtake-of-infamy.

While waiting for our guest to arrive, I've been prowling through my flists a bit.

Found this...amazing...site through a friend on IJ.

Just click the link. Trust me. You want to look at the cards.

Sex From A to Z from the AIDS Committee of Toronto

A dear friend is visiting us for a week, arriving (hopefully!) in time for dinner on Sunday. No idea what we're having, but I'm sure we'll find something tasty.  :3

So needless to say, my internet presence will be pretty scarce - more so than usual, actually. Love to all my buds out there - those of you with pets, snuggle those critters for me! - and we'll see ya next week!

Last night we had some ground-beef nachos, and there was some meat left over. Today...we made chili.  :3

1/4 lb. ground sirloin (or other lean meat)
cumin, ground cayenne pepper, and salt-free spicy pepper mix to taste
a tiny pinch each of garlic powder, salt, and ground cinnamon
olive oil to brown the meat
a dash of tabasco sauce (or my fave, Frank's Red Hot)

Mix together all ingredients and cook till meat is nicely browned and spiced to your liking.
Then add:

1 can beans, drained and rinsed (we used black beans, worked great!)
1 can RoTel tomatoes with green chilies
a handful of frozen cut corn

Cook for about half an hour to blend flavors. Adjust seasoning as desired; if this comes out too spicy, scoop out some of the liquid and replace with water.

We had this with some cheese on top and a side of tortilla chips. Very tasty stuff!

I'm going to try it again using shredded chicken instead of the beef and adding extra water and tortilla strips, maybe some diced potatoes. Can you say chicken tortilla soup?  :DDD

Remember a while back - like two months ago - when I was starting to organize my who's-on-which-flist thing?

Over on IJ, I've just dropped a bunch of RSS feeds I had for LJ accounts, since I'm, y'know, reading them on LJ anyway...

And I dropped some folks who either haven't posted in forever-and-a-day; don't have me friended anymore; or have said they only want to be read on one particular journaling service. Most folks who I've got as mutual friends there stayed on, just because I get squicky hitting that ticky box when the little blue and green arrows are both showing next to their name. You know of what I speak.

So...if anyone's been dropped in error, or if anyone has me friended over at IJ but doesn't read there anymore, let me know. This is very much a work in progress, and I don't expect to get it right in one go.

Posted three fics to AreYouGame (IJ edition), breaking an extremely painful dry spell. I missed my creative mojo. I won't take it for granted again. *hugs tight*

Smashed through the comfort barrier in the swimming pool, and actually made it some distance without the kickboard. Hey, doggie-paddling may not be glamorous, but it works! :3

Am now feeling more alive and confident than I have in months. And, weather permitting, I'm going to conquer even more of the pool over the weekend. (It's been stupid-cold here for summer - barely getting into the low 80s - and raining, so I'm crossing my fingers on this.)

Thanks to unseelie for this gem!

Palin's Farewell Speech - the copy editor's version

It's very...colorful. XDDD

Watched "The Man in the Iron Mask" tonight. You know, the one about the Musketeers and the rotten king and rotten king's good twin brother.

Got to thinking about swordsmen and soldiers and honor and things like that.

Let's see, we've got one sword-slender ascetic who's eaten up with guilt; one burly, brawny, wench-chasing lug of a man; and one flamboyantly foppish priest bookworm.

And then along comes that country bumpkin who's bound and determined to become one of the greats or die trying drive them crazy with his puppyish ways.

...I think I need to read up on my Dumas...

For the next week or so, we're all paying close attention to any odd sounds in the walls or ceiling here, and watching the heck out of the cats for advance warning of any more insect invaders.

It's amazing how quiet it is now. The near-constant scritching and wood-chewing sounds are gone, and my ears feel empty, if that makes any sense. We'd gotten so used to hearing the little noises that their absence is a little startling. It floors me how noisy those little bastards were! (We'd thought we were hearing birds in the gutters, to give you an idea of what it sounded like inside the apartment.)

Now I'm wondering if this pervasive sense of anxiety I've been having lately was just due to that constant siege of sound...

Funny thing - last night I remembered that for the past few weeks, whenever I'd go into the den to use the computer, I felt the urge to flip on the light and check my chair...for hornets. O_O;;; Premonition, much??

( Extreme insectile squick warning - there are pictures )

Jimmy Carter: Losing my religion for equality

And again I have to say, he has become a greater statesman than he ever was a president. Carry on, sir. Carry on.

I'm writing. :D

So far, I've gotten three prompts for areyougame here, plus one bunny that bit really late (that one's going straight into my fics journal, so hopefully the original prompter will find it okay).

I may take some more AYG prompts here and/or on DW, we'll see how that goes (hm, need to see if the late fic was prompted over there, too...).

It feels surprisingly good to be writing again after such a long dry spell.

Now let's see what other trouble I can get into before "Ghost Hunters International" comes on this evening! :3

I'm again re-reading "Coming Home" (book three only - I don't have THAT kind of time, lol!) and "Standing Outside the Fire," along with a few side stories from the "Apocrypha" and "Legacy" sets. I started with CH, and about the time the guys reached Ankara I realized I had to take another look at SOtF too, so there I went.

Barely made it through chapter two before all I wanted to do was cry - young Bradley's plight was so raw, it really hit me all over again.

I'm actually kind of surprised I like reading my own stuff this much; I've gotten so used to being over-critical that just letting go and enjoying is an unexpected joy right now.

Out of curiosity, for those of you who have been reading these, what are some of your favorite moments from the stories? Favorite characters? What things left you reaching for the tissues, or wanting to reach through the monitor and throttle living hell out of me?

Reconnecting isn't the easiest thing I've done, so any company on the trip is much welcomed.