April 2006

places not to hit on women

places you shouldn't hit on a stranger Welfare office, homeless shelters, your job, sex clinics, hospital emergency, cemetery or funeral home. Employment office.

flying car?

It's a neat idea, isn't it? Personal aircraft for us all! I bet you can see yourself piloting it up over the city above all that traffic, straight as an arrow to your destination. Over landforms and all from your back yard straight to the stadium and forget a set, you'll fly over the game!
Full Stop People!
Now imagine all those cars down there lifting up off the streets because, of course, THEY all have personal aircraft too. After all, if you were wealthy enough to be one of the priviledged few you'd already have a personal aircraft of some sort, wouldn't you? Lear jet, helicopter, ultralight, something. They're out, they've been designed, they're available, all manner of nifty personal aircraft. Sooooo, lets resume our daydream. Whoa, look out for the old man in the hat swaying in 3 dimensions! Uhoh, Ms. Mascara over there is making a beeline for your fender! Yipes, she missed you but not your house! Oh that's gonna cost a fortune.
Maybe we need defined routes in the air. Lets lay in all kinds of net tunnels to confine all these nutty drivers. Wait a minute, how is THIS any different from the ground streets we all hate so much? Well for one thing when you look up you no longer get to see the wild blue yonder. Now you see yet more streams of traffic. Nice.
If you ever wonder why personal aircraft instead of cars hasn't happened, lets hope it's because the people capable of making that happen are foresighted enough to know better. If you just think there's too many people around, quit having babies! Kill yourself! Do something proactive to reduce the population. Just remember, it's not worth jail time if you can't take at least a third of the world's humans with you.

Thanks Mark!

Dance like nobody's watching; love like you've never been hurt. Sing like nobody's listening; live like it's heaven on earth. -- Mark Twain

nightmare

I just gotta share the nightmare that woke me up at 1:45am and wouldn't let me sleep for awhile. I was dreaming that Petey flew through a candle flame and set his wing on fire. I frantically tried to put it out with the wet dishrag I was holding and it kept flaring up and he kept screaming and the wing glowed white hot. Eventually I just gave up and woke up. I never let there be an open flame when Petey's flying. Never ever never not ever no no no way. All stove flames must have a lidded pot over them. Well not always lidded, but if at all possible. Candles may not be used while he's around. I'm just terrified of how feathers might go Poof in a flame.
Later, this morning as I was sleeping in, another dream disturbed me mightily. I was in jail and had elected to bring my ipaq with me so I'd have something to do. There were showers and I thought I might like to have a shower but couldn't bring the ipaq in. The desk guards were accepting things to check in temporarily. They demanded $.30 from me but I had no money. A girl beside me passed me the money. When they saw what it was they started asking questions and showing too much interest and then informed me that because it was so valuable it was more expensive to check, I needed another $7. The girl beside me handed this over but I got really worried that they'd steal it and then they handed me a form to fill in which had spaces labled "end ___ Centenary ___ end ____ centenary" in the area that would customarily contain a date field. My consternation over not understanding what would go there was so great it awoke me.
I don't like nightmares. The one about Petey had me tiptoeing into the living room to whisper sweet nothings at him and confirm that he was whole and well. The ipaq one had me investigating what it would take to password protect my unit should I need to, and how fast could I accomplish it.

hey pretty bug!

We often comment on the name of the butterfly, noting that this flying insect has nothing at all to do with butter. We may even extend to suggest that the name is backwards because it flutters by and should be called a flutterby. Sometimes we amuse ourselves calling it a flutterby. In fact this is common enough that if you said you saw a flutterby in the park, nobody would correct or mistake what you had said.
That's the thing, see. It was a flutterby originally. Yes, that's what people called these exquisite little bugs, quite rightly and appropriately, as they delicately fluttered by. Why then do we now call it a butterfly? Because it amused people to switch the consonants for a joke. They would call it a butterfly, just for a joke, no other reason. It was funny. It was so absurd to call it a butterfly because it has nothing whatsoever to do with butter! Wonder of wonders, the name got so entrenched people forgot it had ever been called a flutterby and now we find ourselves swapping the consonants for amusement and calling it a flutterby.
It will be harder for the "new" name to stick now that we have widespread literacy, dictionaries, and teachers to correct us, but eventually the dictionaries and literature follow common useage, not the other way round, and it may well come to pass one day that we routinely call these lovely harbingers of summer "flutterbys."

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sending a dog to "a farm"

This is a friend of mine, Cindy Ames, a registered dog breeder and farmer, responding on a pet trade list to the many requests for a rural home for a problem dog. Urbanites seem to think that if they have a dog who's just not happy in their home they can find him a farm home where he can romp in pastures carefree and happy. This is her rant on it:

I've been on this list for a while and have been seen several different dogs come up looking for a "farm home". To this point, I have held my tongue, but now I am going to comment. I hope to not offend anyone, but there are things that need to be said on this subject..no targets, just a general observation from someone who works with animals in a farming community. Incidentally, I AM a farmer too. Unfortunatley, most of my neighbors consider me to be "that crazy lady with the dogs" because my dogs are well cared for and part of the family...not primarily expected to "guard" the property and fend for themselves.
Are there good farm homes? Absolutely. However, I have to qualify that with the word "some" are good farm homes. Some, in reality many, are NOT. A dog living on a farm has a much harder lifestyle in many cases...this is not some mythical Nirvana for dogs, and before we arbitrarily decide that a farm home is a better place for the dog, we need to really do some homework on the new owners.
If you have raised a dog as part of your family and are placing it because you cannot provide enough exercise, or it has existing behaviour problems, you need to be extremely careful in placing it "on a farm"...cuz yeah, it's going to get exercise, until it gets out on the road and gets pegged by a grain trailer. (Yeah, it won't be your problem anymore, but it will still be dead or suffering in the barn.)
A great number of farm dogs get very little attention - if the dog has behaviour problems such as jumping up or being hyper, there is a good chance that it is going to get worse on a farm, and in a lot of cases, it will NOT be tolerated. If the dog has been contained in a fenced area in a city/town, it has absolutely no concept of machinery, so unless the farm has a fenced in run and people that will use it, it is almost certain to be run over by something in the yard. If it gets to "go" anywhere, chances are good that it will be riding loose in the back of a pickup across rough terrain, and will be jumping in and out of that pickup unassisted or even when the vehicle is moving. Remember that dogs that are RAISED on the farm learn from puppyhood and have more "skills" than the dog you have decided to send off to the happy nirvana of farm life..
Have you ever seen a city dog moved to the farm and thinking it might like to herd cattle inappropriately? I have. One got a gunshot wound to the head, and the other got a badly broken jaw from being kicked in the head by a 1600 lb cow. It was euthanized because nobody had the time or incentive to feed it with a syringe for the time it would take to heal. The same goes for dogs that bark constantly...when the coyotes start to howl at night and the dog sits under the bedroom window and decides to sing along constantly, it's days are numbered. Remember that it has probably been running in the mud and covered with burs etc., so it isn't going to just be brought into the house.
If this dog has been a housedog, you better make very sure that it will still be part of a loving family and not relegated to the yard with no heat in winter, no grooming anytime, and living on the cheapest dog food that is available. That's a reality on a LOT of farms.
What happened to the last dog the farm had?? Contact the vet and see if the dog ever had veterinary care - even vaccinations.
If this dog gets sprayed by a skunk or quilled by a porcupine, are the people going to attend to it's needs properly? Or are they just going to sit on it and try to pull the quills out with a pair of needlenose pliers and let them break off in its mouth?
People, please think this through before you do it. If you are sending the dog off to the farm because you cannot train it, do you really honestly believe that the farm home WILL? Or is is just "out of sight, out of mind"?
If this dog is not spayed/neutered...how long do you think it will be before it either starts to roam or meets up with the neighbors dog and gets pregnant with unwanted puppies? Have you thought about what will happen to those puppies??? A lot of the time they get drowned in a pail. Sorry, harsh, but true. And an unwanted litter does not mean the dog will be fixed after that....and yes, it will continue to produce on every cycle.
I am sorry if this offends anyone, but the idea that a farm is a safe dumping site for dogs that cannot be handled in their existing home sometimes turns out to be a death sentence for the dog - and is simply, too often, just shifting the responsibility to someone who cares less and has even less tolerance. Think it through. Research it.
Dr. Ian Dunbar says it best....a badly behaved dog being sent off to the"mythical ranch in Sonoma"...as a euphemism for euthanasia.
There are some WONDERFUL farm homes....but if the dog goes to one that is less than wonderful...it's in trouble very quickly, and it's in trouble in a very dangerous and frightening environment.

w9x support officially bye bye

a PSA to direct your attention to http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifean18 --- Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, and Windows Millennium Edition Support ends on July 11, 2006
Final customer notification about the end of Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, and Windows Millennium Edition Extended Support
Support for Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, and Windows Millennium Edition (Me) ends on July 11, 2006. Microsoft will end public and technical support by this date. This also includes security updates. Microsoft is providing final notifications to customers to end the extended security update support for these products.
Microsoft is ending support for these products because they are outdated and these older operating systems can expose customers to security risks. We recommend that customers who are still running Windows 98 or Windows Me upgrade to a newer, more secure Microsoft operating system, such as Windows XP, as soon as possible.

---

The important part above is that "This also includes security updates." While MS suggests you switch to a newer version of Windows, I would suggest Linux (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux) as most versions are free :) If you have any questions about Linux, please e-mail me as I would be glad to help people test it out; also, Saskatoon has a Linux User's Group which holds monthly meetings (see http://www.slg.org/).

wireless fun

My old Dlink switch bit the dust today. I don't think it's still on warranty. I'm going to post it on Freecycle and let someone else troubleshoot it. So that seemed like the excuse I needed to get a new wireless system. I was very happy to find out that for less than a hundred bucks I could get a router that allowed 4 wired connections as well as wifi. It's fantastic to be able to use my ppc for IM while I'm sitting at the couch reading books. Come summer I can do the same outside. I could even keep in touch from next door. I'll have to experiment and see if I can still reach the signal from Ken's house. That seems a bit too far but it says up to 900m outside and there's only one wall in the way and it's got very little metal in it. I may also relocate the router eventually so the antenna is by the window if I really have a desire to extend range. It reaches all theway to the garbage cans and probably all around the garage so that's fine.
I sewed some lovely sparklies on my dress. I have pics of it but can't share them on here or the website because that would take some of the surprise out of it for Dan and I really want him to get a full surprise when he sees me in it. I've got some options for someone to help me pin up the hem a bit and that's good too.
Not a lot else to talk about. Dan and I didn't resolve the issue we fought over, just reached a point where we put it away for another time. We both clearly don't want it to be important enough to break us up but neither is it unimportant enough to give in. I hate having it hanging around but it seems it has to. See, if I give in, I hurt a good friend, insult a good friend. I let the judgement against him by someone who's never met him stand. I also take the same guilt and judgement onto myself. For an act I still don't accept was morally wrong. I would have to capitulate my values and my past and the choices I've made and paint a stain on myself for something of which I'm proud. Can't do that. He can't let go either because.. well I don't understand why. He says because he feels it. I don't get THAT either. For me feeling is an instinct and if it doesn't endanger me then I chase it for logic. If it's a feeling though thatI"m in danger, then I follow it, but I mean... Feeling is what your fingers do when they stroke a cat's fur. It's what your heart does when it sees a loved one, or that twist in your belly when you see an enemy (damn keyboard batteries are dying, I hate that). But to say something is wrong because you feel it's wrong, that's just illogical. You THINK it's wrong, not feel it.
Ok, that's it, I can't stand it, brb, need batteries. Ahh, now, that should be better. I hate it when the keyboard skips letters.
Ok, as I was saying, he says he feels that way and that's the way he feels and that's why he feels that way. ARRGGGGGHHH!!!! So as you can see, the fight has only been put aside. I hope somehow he'll discover that feelings can change...
Lawyer says more or less that I can in fact sponsor dan while on welfare because it's ok if you're disabled, and also that if I went off it from the date of filing till the file is all processed, that'd make it ok too. So it looks like Dan can in fact come up here this spring. ELATION! I was getting nervous. What would I DO without him another year? It's so very hard and getting harder all the time to live without him. We just, more or less, need him to earn enough money. That's pretty much the crux of it now. I still need to phone the lawyer tomorrow for clarity. We will also have to start getting papers together.