tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32336342024-03-12T19:36:33.478-04:00Otter PonderingsThe expense of spirit in a waste of shameDan L-Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10378801381611890154noreply@blogger.comBlogger371125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3233634.post-58794282984801513182012-07-06T20:44:00.000-04:002012-07-06T20:44:12.884-04:00Strange AeonsAt going on two years since my last post, this place has started to look like one of those old houses lining the lanes of the Internets, the windows darkened, the lawn overgrown. Did everyone leave, or are they still haunting the rooms, reclusive and coming slowly unhinged? It's hard to tell.
Well, for starts, I aten't dead, but I did take a long vacation from having much of a presence online. IDan L-Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10378801381611890154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3233634.post-87042774357075819302010-08-28T15:49:00.000-04:002010-08-28T15:49:55.119-04:00Ali Baba's a different speciesI got your dogmatic, intolerant, proselytizing, anti-assimilationist Islam right here:
But, you know. Those mysterious Wahabis Shiites Sunnis Sufis. So strange. So hostile to modern culture. So very Not Like Us.Dan L-Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10378801381611890154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3233634.post-89062432584883071142010-03-04T00:01:00.001-05:002010-03-04T00:01:00.823-05:00"Halle-verbal infix-lujah."In honor of National Grammar Day:
To whimsically digress, let us invoke here the existence of the infix in English. The official party line, promulgated at the elementary-school level, is that English has prefixes and suffixes but no infixes. The thoughtful grammarian will have noticed that English has at least one infix, bleeping, as in abso-bleeping-lutely, in-bleeping-credible, and Dan L-Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10378801381611890154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3233634.post-80336343122751530262010-02-23T20:01:00.000-05:002010-02-23T20:01:10.691-05:00In Dozens of Colors of ThreadSo Elly, who is one of the finest writers and crafters I know, is starting to do how-to videos, and the first one out the gate is showing that she has as deft a hand with a video editor as she does with a blue pencil.* Behold:
Fantastic. And while the polish and perfectionism of her work is what I admire, it's the lolcats and the two-headed chicks that make her One Of Us.
(Impressed? She Dan L-Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10378801381611890154noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3233634.post-22029349863402109292010-02-19T21:56:00.001-05:002010-02-19T22:15:47.749-05:00The Same Clown in a Different FaceTwo things of note: first, HaloScan is now ded ded ded ded, taking with it the last couple of years' worth of comments here, which sucks but gives me an excuse to redecorate the place without worrying about preserving those bits of my old template. So - new look! New sidebars! New Blogger-hosted commenting engine!* Enjoy, if that's the word I'm looking for.
Second, today marks the anniversary ofDan L-Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10378801381611890154noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3233634.post-13099637921778453572009-12-21T15:29:00.001-05:002009-12-21T15:34:58.604-05:00Pantoum: SolsticeWe light candles now,For this is the dying time;A little fire in the long darkTo heal the wounded world. For this is the dying time,And all things pass in their hourTo heal the wounded world.Give way now to the cold and dark. And all things pass in their hour:Green and light and good cheerGive way now to the cold and darkAll through this longest of long nights. Green and light and good cheer:KeepDan L-Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10378801381611890154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3233634.post-73786977835170292822009-12-15T13:13:00.003-05:002009-12-15T13:36:50.261-05:00I decree today that life is simply taking and not givingBODY: Holy crap, it sure is getting cold. Winter must be coming.MIND: It sure is! It'll be the Solstice soon.BODY: We'd better stock up on lots of fatty and sugary food, then, for the long trek across the tundra. You never know when the next mammoth is going to come along.MIND: Actually, we don't need to do that any more. Remember? We got civilization about, oh, six or eight thousand years ago. Dan L-Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10378801381611890154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3233634.post-26965089967046325602009-12-04T23:59:00.004-05:002009-12-05T00:18:11.257-05:00A River Too Weary to FloodGood heavens, is that the time?...I knew I was forgetting something somewhere.Right. Back on the wagon, hopefully.While you're waiting, have some JBE:Dan L-Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10378801381611890154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3233634.post-15558253960905385882009-06-19T22:19:00.003-04:002009-06-19T22:41:26.202-04:00So the Buddha walks into a pizzeria...(I've been feeling for a while like I ought to be doing cooking posts. Consider this as a test of the waters.)Normally when I do Pizza Night, I build the suckers from the bottom up - homemade crust and everything. Tonight I didn't feel like going through the whole sponge-growing-and-kneading process, so I got some prefab crusts and threw some stuff on 'em.Stacy is a Purist, of course, and got a Dan L-Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10378801381611890154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3233634.post-61571950982580242842009-06-09T16:15:00.003-04:002009-06-09T16:36:11.555-04:00Maestro SartoriSo yesterday, for the first time since the millenium or so, I went and had most of my hair cut off.Several factors came together for this. One is, yes, that I'm still unemployed, and I was starting to feel less and less in love with my hair more than it was a liability to me. It's stupid and unfair that it should be so, but stupid and unfair are, alas, still forces to be reckoned with in the Dan L-Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10378801381611890154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3233634.post-25279488049404668372009-02-26T20:53:00.004-05:002009-02-26T21:08:27.226-05:00"Woe betide the favorites of gods who think they're funny"Most of my (no doubt rapidly declining) readership probably knows this already, but a week ago I got my second laying-off these twelve months, and am back on the job hunt, in the teeth of the Econopocalyse and everything. So, uh, wish me luck, or something - not least that whatever gig I happen to land next doesn't have "Redshirt" listed as implicit under "Other duties as assigned."It's bitter Dan L-Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10378801381611890154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3233634.post-29841125235527464302009-01-20T12:47:00.002-05:002009-01-20T13:11:07.097-05:00Raise Our Eyes and Make a StartI lost track of time today and realized that, entirely coincidentally, at 12 noon I was listening to "A Farewell to Kings."I didn't make it into the office lunch room in time to see the inauguration coverage - by the time I got up there, there wasn't even standing room - but I look forward to watching the recaps later. For now, what I've heard of the proceedings makes me not only feel like I'm a Dan L-Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10378801381611890154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3233634.post-13185679596342589222009-01-17T10:34:00.004-05:002009-01-17T11:35:54.460-05:00Sleep Has His HouseMaMa is gone. She died around 1:00 this morning, and an era passes away with her.Talking to family this morning as we made the rounds of phone calls to pass the news along, the most shared sentiment seems to be relief. I think most of us had our big moment of grief and shock when we understood that the end was coming soon, and we've been anticipating this ever since. The best we could have hoped Dan L-Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10378801381611890154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3233634.post-60794642632603047832009-01-16T09:39:00.007-05:002009-01-16T10:21:03.763-05:00Diamond DogMonty is home and hale and well, if a little worn out from his hospital stay. Stacy picked him up yesterday afternoon and he spent most of the evening asleep; he's on a bland diet and antibiotics and under observation, but seems to be doing okay. He's one lucky little guy.Most especially glad to have him home again was Willow, who spent a whole lot of the time he was away moping and pining and Dan L-Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10378801381611890154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3233634.post-58515197467767550582009-01-14T10:04:00.004-05:002009-01-15T08:22:34.516-05:00Not Single SpiesTwo things from the last day or so in the Not Good News column:First, the latest word on my grandmother (better known to us, and most of of you, as MaMa) is that she is not well and fading fast; she's no longer able to eat, which likely puts her remaining time (barring bona fide divine intervention, which I doubt she would welcome even if she believed in it, which she doesn't) as a matter of daysDan L-Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10378801381611890154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3233634.post-59297376124110359802009-01-07T21:22:00.003-05:002009-01-07T21:39:30.286-05:00That's it. I'm putting my quill back in my goose.Obviously, I needed humbling today. It seems there's this young drummer named Sara with a gift for polyrhythm and an ear for prog.Here she is at 12, doing "Red."And at 13, doing "YYZ."That there is pure joy. I should live so long as to infuse all my work with as much.(Via TNH, on BoingBoing.)Dan L-Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10378801381611890154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3233634.post-22253573925717806832008-11-16T02:27:00.005-05:002008-11-16T03:04:58.526-05:00(with apologies to children of the '90s everywhere)"Hey, Rocko! How's your novel coming for National Novel Writing Month?""Not so good, Hef. I'm still stuck on Page 1. I can't figure out what comes after 'It was'.""Oh, you should try my technique! It's working great so far.""Really? What's your word count?""I have... 150,462 words.""That's fantastic, Hef! And only on week one! What's your secret?""Oh, it's easy, Rocko! I just write one paragraph,Dan L-Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10378801381611890154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3233634.post-14575870977227679942008-11-04T23:15:00.002-05:002008-11-04T23:18:12.796-05:00Time to Ring Some ChangesYeah, this is about how I'm feeling right now:Yes. We. Did.Dan L-Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10378801381611890154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3233634.post-48256263749287619812008-11-03T21:00:00.010-05:002008-11-04T08:36:55.970-05:00Yes I said yes we can YesWant to talk about conspiracies of entrenched power? I'll give you one: decades of work, and the money to pay for it, have been spent on pounding the idea into your fuzzy little heads that all politicians are sleazeballs, political action is hopeless, no one goes into a public service career for idealistic reasons, democracy isn't a thing to be proud of, and your vote doesn't matter.Are you awareDan L-Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10378801381611890154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3233634.post-19384037044243603852008-10-27T20:40:00.003-04:002008-10-27T21:30:42.965-04:00"No, there is too much. Let me sum up."1. Yes, I know. No, nothing in particular, other than inertia and a lot of "Oh, my, is that the time?" I had the best of intentions, but you know how that one goes.2. Well, that, and I was persuaded at some length to join Facebook. Where I think I owe a bunch of people karma, or daffodils, or appletinis, or something. Damn place is crack cut with pure evil.3. And because I'm so good at keeping upDan L-Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10378801381611890154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3233634.post-32240084707776306612008-06-07T18:35:00.004-04:002008-06-07T19:14:26.054-04:00I Was Half the Way Down, Treading the SandFor anyone still watching this space, a placeholder post; lo, I am not gone forever, but my last couple of months have been a heady mix of the very good and the almost comically dreadful, with little in-between except my suddenly inflated commute. Some of the high end, at least, I may feel inclined to elaborate on soon, but for the moment I'm far more out of blogging steam than I've been in a Dan L-Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10378801381611890154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3233634.post-30460983971045007842008-03-21T12:47:00.005-04:002008-03-21T13:47:56.060-04:00The Adherents of the Repeated MemeTagged again!Right, the Official Rules:1. Pick up the nearest book.2. Open to page 1233. Find the fifth sentence.4. Post the next three sentences.5. Tag five people and post a comment here once you post it to your blog so I can come see!As chance would have it, my nearest book is Iain M. Banks' Excession, and the passage in question is a spaceship transmission giving the title shot (and for Dan L-Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10378801381611890154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3233634.post-9041106055363486672008-03-21T00:01:00.004-04:002008-03-21T01:42:49.305-04:00In Poses Keen from Bygone DaysThe blogosphere is awash in art of late, it would seem:First, those of you who are fans of my late grandfather's work should check out this stuff that Tony found in one of the many recent attic excavations. Some of it's the abstract expressionism that he was known best for, but there's lots of atypical pieces there too. (I, of course, like the one that looks like a Great Old One, but YM, Dan L-Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10378801381611890154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3233634.post-82298838071596741712008-03-13T11:40:00.010-04:002008-03-14T15:55:49.559-04:00Animals Belonging to the EmperorSo the last time around I mentioned my quirky and highly subjective system of organization for my bookshelves (and, indeed, other shelvable media as well). As it happens, last week Elly threw down the gauntlet for bookshelf pr0n posts, so this seems like as good an excuse as any to take a tour of one small corner of my library. So, then: Mah buks. Let me show u them:This is the bookshelf most Dan L-Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10378801381611890154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3233634.post-51725314280850275642008-03-06T20:35:00.002-05:002008-03-06T22:27:48.531-05:00An Old Day Now(Finally, this, as promised last time, only lightly altered for current continuity. Wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey, and so on.)So a little over a month ago I turned 34, as the inevitable and inexorable progression of numbers would have it. At this point, I'm no longer in the least surprised that as I stumble on towards my status as venerable graybeard (a designation increasingly literal these days, Dan L-Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10378801381611890154noreply@blogger.com0