via Daily Squee, apropos of nothing but that I needed it.
Life
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On helping people move
So as Cuttlefish recently documented, I managed to… uh… persuade the Google Python scripts that handle migrating Blogspot archives to WordPress into allowing him to import his older archives, so his old poetry, all the way back to 2007, is now available here at Freethought Blogs.
Meanwhile, I’ve also converted Libby Anne’s posts and sent along instructions on how to import them, so I expect those should appear shortly, and I also helped move Brianne into her new digs as well. She’s all unpacked now. Hooray for more new neighbors!
You should check them all out. Right now. Especially Biodork (Brianne), though, because she gives unironic thumbs-ups, which is very endearing to us Canucks.
Presently though, I’m probably knee-deep in real-life work. I’m sure I’ll be back to haunt the blogohedron soon enough.
Happy anniversary, dear
A day late, but yesterday was spent on cuddles and sushi so I hope you’ll forgive me for posting this today. My wife Jodi and I just celebrated our second wedding anniversary. Video of the ceremony is available, and of course, if you’re interested in the proposal, visit Stephanie’s, where she very much played Cupid, with an assist from that old softie PZ Myers himself.
Stephanie’s husband Ben helped take a picture that we never got on our wedding, of the necklace that the amazing, talented and amazingly talented Bohemian Weasel, Soni Alcorn-Hender, made for her. Considering all of the artistic talent, and the model, of course I feel the need to highlight it here.
It’s a lousy existence, Charlie Brown
Edited together by Rob Yulfo, set to The Vega Choir‘s cover of Radiohead’s Creep, all those old TV specials take on a decidedly different caste in this treatment.
No wonder Charlie Brown was always whinging about everything.
Happy whatever you celebrate!
My wife and I are hosting my sister for the day, cooking a small ham and playing video games and drinking wine and generally staying off the intertubes. Whatever you have planned for the day, I hope your plans find you and your friends and family in good health, and I hope you enjoy the day.
If you really need something to entertain you today, others around FtB have posted alternative carols, videos of The Muppets, an explanation of the ‘reason for the season’ (what, no axial tilt?), recipes for gingerbread, debunked Virginia’s letter, or talked about Isaac Newton.
I’m going to enjoy my day with my family now, incomplete as that family presence might be. You really should do so too. PZ commanded it last night, I’m commanding it today.
Happy Solstice, Newtonmas, Saturnalia, Festivus, and yes, even Christmas. (Among other festivals that fall on or around this day.)
Quite possibly the most moving two minute video ever
Presented with as little context as possible, intentionally, below the fold.
Continue reading “Quite possibly the most moving two minute video ever”
Raise a glass to Christopher Hitchens
As soon as I can this evening, I will pour a toast to a man who never gave quarter to a world filled with every kind of petty dictator and delusional powermonger. And even when his friends and allies disagreed on some point, he could build an incredibly strong case as easily and as casually as though he was conversing about the weather.
Given his fondness for libations, and his rabble-rousing ways, I suspect he would have respected the primary mode of remembrance that he’s garnering.
Though The Hitch didn’t believe in sin, I bet he’d have gotten a chuckle out of this song.
He was an orator, a statesman, and a good human being. The movement is poorer without him, but it marches on.
An Experiential Comparison of General Anaesthetic and Dental Sedation
Guest post by my wife, Jodi. Taking care of her yesterday and today, combined with Skyrim which we purchased to give her something to do and me something to obsess over (other than her), has lead to a dearth of time for blog commenting; apologies. I’m sure there’s lots of SIWOTI out there to eat up our time, but we have our priorities, you know! For now, enjoy this story from my drug-addled and pained wife.
(For my own recollect mostly, but you never know, maybe some first timers will get something useful out of it.)
When I was seven years old I had my tonsils removed, which required being put under. Ever since then I have found medical sedation to be rather fascinating. I’ve never been afraid of it, instead always feeling a sense of eager curiosity. Yesterday I had my wisdom teeth removed and I had been told that the kind of sedation I would be getting was not at all the same as general anaesthetic where they put you under completely. Having had two day surgeries that used general anaesthetic within one week of each other (and thus cementing the experience in my mind) almost three years ago I thought this would be a great opportunity to compare them.
Continue reading “An Experiential Comparison of General Anaesthetic and Dental Sedation”
Beer O’Clock
Today, I leave Minnesota. Luckily I’m writing this post a day in advance, because right about now I’d be too teary-eyed to write, no matter how many notes I’d already taken in preparation for this post. I expect that, once home, I will revert to my less adventuresome and more hermit-like self, e.g. the lousy Canuck of my blog tagline.
One of the things I regret most about being a teetotaler through my university career (though the fact served me well in my studies) is that I simply didn’t have any experience with beer at all, so when I started drinking years later, my first experience was with the commercially mass-produced pap that is Molson Canadian. I was turned off of beer for a very long time thereafter. Until I started drinking Rickards Honey Brown, which introduced me to the novel concept that, hey, beer is actually possibly quite drinkable and even — dare I say it — tasty.
Continue reading “Beer O’Clock”
Passports and FtB meetups and waning vacation time, oh my
Right about now, I’m at the Canadian Consulate in Minneapolis, filing paperwork for a one-way passport back to Canada. My passport went through the wash here at the Zvan’s, and the front-and-back blue pages peeled away, and evidently that’s enough to invalidate the passport. I’ve pretty much had to fill out every scrap of paper I originally did doing my real passport, in duplicate, plus a third form (that had to be notarized all official-like) stating that I damaged the original passport and how — in every embarassing detail. Just got done taking, printing, picking up, slicing up and having passport photos signed, all done by none other than world famous photographer Ben Zvan. Luckily my wife Jodi has had a passport for more than five years, and can act as my guarantor. Hopefully I will get my exit papers in the requisite three day waiting period, and will manage to return home safely. I needed to renew my passport before CONvergence next year anyway, so it’s no huge loss. Well, a small loss — I did lose every visa stamp in the old passport when the washer scrubbed every bit of non-printed ink from the pages.
Whether I’m returning home properly on Sunday, or I’m shipped off to Gitmo for being an illegal immigrant or whatever, it appears you’ll have one last chance to see me in person in Minneapolis this Friday. Stephanie, Greg and I are, as of publication, going to Bar Abilene for supper… dinner… whatever you crazy Americans call that meal that happens around 5pm. More details at Stephanie’s, and if any plans change, that’s where you’ll find out.
Less than a week left in Jodi and my vacation. Best do as many epic things as possible! This may include hugs. EPIC HUGS.