Can I keep it?
Eclectic adventures in lots of things.
CNN Hits one out of the ball park
Jul 20th
http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/07/20/mexico.monkey.smuggling/index.html
Text:
(CNN) — Mexican authorities searching a man with a bulge under his shirt at the airport in the nation's capital found 18 monkeys hidden beneath his clothes, police said.
Investigators grew suspicious after Roberto Sol Cabrera Zavaleta, 38, became "markedly nervous" when asked what he was transporting, Mexico's Public Safety Department said.
Two of the tiny titi monkeys he was carrying in a belt were dead, the department said in a statement, and 16 of them survived the journey from Lima, Peru.
Cabrera has been detained as authorities continue their investigation, the statement said.
In an interview with authorities released by police, Cabrera said he first carried the monkeys in his suitcase, but then hid the animals in his clothes so they would not be harmed by X-ray machines at the airport.
Cabrera described the animals as "pets" and told authorities he had purchased them for $30.
Titi monkeys are protected endangered species requiring a permit for possession, police said.
Images released by police show the tiny creatures, many of which are tied up in pouches, squirming in a cardboard box.
____
Tiny Titi Monkeys.
For real.
Under his clothes.
BWAHAHAHAHAA
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Terry Savage points out what is wrong with America and doesn’t realize it.
Jul 7th
Chicago Sun Times Columnist Terry Savage took time to write a column about little girls giving away free lemonade and snacks, consequently holding up their behavior as "What's wrong with America." (Article is at http://www.suntimes.com/business/savage/2464546,CST-NWS-savage05.savagearticle if you want to read it.) Railing against these children who chose to, perhaps, be neighborly and provide a treat for their neighbors and friends. She shrilly points out that "That's not the spirit of giving. You can only really give when you give something you own. They're giving away their parents' things — the lemonade, cups, candy. It's not theirs to give."
In doing so, she fails to ask the girls why they may be giving such things away. It could be entirely possible that these girls were spending their allowance in sharing with the community or general public. She acknowledges the presence of a Nanny, meaning that this home is in an above average income neighborhood, but fails to mention that detail. She moves on to the inevitable assertion that everyone (except she and her cadre of well off friends and family) expects free benefits and how society is all about "free lunch".
Regardless of what she chooses to espouse politically, the fact is that she cannot wrap her mind around the concept of compassion. She has spent a lifetime getting from society and focused building wealth that she cannot conceive that someone would give something away without asking for anything in return. This is what is wrong with America. People like Savage cannot muster the courage to take a loss in corporate profits for a quarter (or even a decrease in profits,) to keep others working. They cannot abide the thought of us having our neighbors over for steaks when we find ourselves able to do so, without expecting a payback or some other gain. Heaven forbid we shovel the neighbor's walks or cars out when there is a sudden snowstorm without demanding a payoff. (They would be shrilly demanding that everyone stay out of the spot they just shoveled after piling their snow in front of another's vehicle.) They scream Socialist when someone dares to bring up that there is a social responsibility to improve the lives of our countrymen in order to improve our own quality of life. Instead, she would see an America where the vicious, petty and greedy are rewarded and those who give to the betterment of their community are reviled.
With this type of attitude, we see a "I have mine, so I'm good with everyone else being hosed" mindset. Should an artist only create work for hire? Would we have Picasso, VanGough, or Manet today if they followed that line of reasoning? While economics can drive society, it is not the whole of society. Reducing individuals to their economic value removes the divinity of the Human spirit as well as the basic decency that they deserve. Savage is quick to spout that there was nothing free about "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness." but fails to realize that they are but a small portion of the original document, which also includes provisions to accommodate the "Safety and Happiness" of citizens.
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A fine Virginia evening
Jul 5th
It's finally down to a more comfortable 83 here in Vienna, (that's Fahrenheit to all you folks on the Internet from other places that Are Not Here,) and I have a pipe full of Virginia Tobacco and two cold beers, both of which are my just reward for putting up with people who have graduate degrees but can't manage to follow directions. I find myself torn between the delight and convenience of having most of what I need, want, and probably can't use within thirty minutes drive and the very dark skies of remote parts away from people.
I have been hard at work on Hammersfall ( http://www.hammersfall.com (Still figuring out site content and scope, but it IS being worked on) and Ironing out the details of an episodic conspiracy theory/Fringe Science LARP meant for a smaller scale. (Also trying to figure out where the hell the subdomain for it went.) Both projects are meant to be somewhat portable, though the episodic one will be *much* more so, and will certainly make it to conventions once we figure out budget and availability.
I am certainly looking forward to other people's projects, including Game 2 of Source (http://sourcelarp.org/) which is evolving an getting interesting. I was going to switch to Play it, but I figure I will spend at least one more game as cast (possibly two- it depends) to get the feel of the campaign. Xanodria (http://www.xanodria.com/main/index.shtml) has been interesting this year, and while the game is bucking a little under their new VP: Creative, it looks like the rest of the season may shape up nicely. I am also eagerly anticipating Path of Paper Lanterns, an Asian themed LARP (http://www.pathofpaperlanterns.org/) that is doing some cool stuff while it tools up and is trying to build a sustainable business model for itself. I think that the folks running it have a good grasp on the ramp up concept and will make it work.
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Waiting to die?
Jul 1st
I had someone attest to me recently that they were just "existing" and had stopped "living". It breaks my heart to hear people say that. It means that they are missing their passion and the bits of wonder that make being here worthwhile. I suspect that there was some hyperbole in the statement, but the fact that they would consider the statement to be true in any form is somewhat sad to me. If nothing else life is a gift, our current existence is what it is and it's the only go that we get in this format.
I haven't really spoke/written about my mother passing away in February, as she died kind of suddenly and in frankly a rather sad way. It forced me to once again turn to Liber AL and Liber XV, (The Collects in particular,) and it once again helped me get a better grasp of life and death. My thoughts brought me around to the folowing thoughts.
1) We are just meat. (Meaning the body, not the animating force.)
2) The animating force (The soul, the Yechida/Chayah/Neshamah/Ruach/Nefesh apparatus, consciousness,) is akin to electricity.
3) within the meat there are pathways and motors and processors, much like circuits in a computer
4) When the animating force is applied to the meat it behaves a certain way. Much like a circuit behaves when electricity is applied to it.
5) The meat-circuit is unique to each individual, the Animating force is te constant.
6) when the meat-circuit fails, the individual is gone, as the animating force returns to its origin and the attributes of the individual cease to exist. (ie. the personality is gone, but the inner light remains.)
So why does it make me sad that someone is "just existing"? Because the individual is the only one that will exist with that circuit. It means they have given up on the Great Work and are waiting for their body to fail and the unique attributes are going to be lost for all time, without completing their portion of the task. (Whatever their Will is.) Perhaps I think that while you don't have to always be doing something, you should at least be *living* and making the world better by enjoying life, in whatever form you can, for it will be over soon enough.
I'm not waiting to die, more like living to do so. When my number is up, it's up; but there better damn well be some interesting stories somewhere.
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The end of the traditional musical culture in NOLA?
Jun 21st
I am disappointed beyond belief at the NOLA Police Department’s sudden curfew enforcement on bands that play in the public spaces of the city. (http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2010/06/bourbon_street_music_curfew_en.html) Every time I have been in New Orleans, I have been impressed by the way the music enhances the food, culture, and even the city itself. This is integral to the spirit of the city and what makes it unique within the United States. What I am seeing here is either private clubs lobbying to shut down the free music outside in order to force people into the clubs (and a hefty cover charge,) or a concentrated assault from those who would remake NOLA into the sanitized PG Disney “Main Street, U.S.A.” that most upper class white folks imagine the city to be. The city has taken what it has been given and it gives back in the form of music that speaks to the soul and the sense that things might be bad today and bad tomorrow, but right this minute we can make it good. The third solution that comes to mind is that tourists are surprised by the reality of music in urban areas and are complaining when the party goes all night outside their Bourbon Street hotel window. What kind of Idiot expects the streets to roll up in New Orleans just because it is late or dark? That’s what the hotels by the airport are for. Read the article, it may convince you that the ordinance itself is a crime against the city’s culture.
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Monitoring the cat
Jun 19th
In an effort to get the dogs out of the habit of raiding the litterbox and cat dish (since Alfred is on super high end food until he dies,) I converted one of our cabinets to a feeding area with a “downstairs” litterbox. I also outfitted it with a webcam in the feeding area because I am a geek. I did not do it in the poop area because I am not a scat geek. Occasionally, I will stream from here mostly for my entertainment.You can view it here: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/aiehank Or by clicking “CAT FOOD” up top.
Making stuff!
Jun 19th
I finally decided to run with a project that had been kicking around in my head, as my other ones are on a very long timeline. (Or so it appears.)
I put together a few Shirts for the Ice and Fire USA stav club, and Miki likes them enough to give her O.K. to them.
Without further ado, I present the Ice and Fire USA 2010 summer shirts from me! ( http://skreened.com/kuhfeldt? )
There is no mark up on these, and while they are a little expensive, the company Skreened is socially responsible and makes microloans through www.Kiva.org so I think it is a fair trade off.
Protip: Comixology embed script
Jun 19th
I have had the comixology pull list javascript widget running on my site at http://savagexmedia.com/?page_id=121 for a while but it was not updating. It appears to function better when you edit the java script to read “script type=”text/javascript” src=”http://www.comixology.com/js/pulllist/2a0a10f1c13a0533dde23a82ae002fc4.js?” as opposed to “script type=”text/javascript” src=”http://www.comixology.com/js/pulllist/2a0a10f1c13a0533dde23a82ae002fc4.js?date=2010-06-16″
Note the difference? (hint: it’s at the end of the script call)
Whoops.
Silly me. I should have caught that months ago.
Transmission from Zhivago Point, Fairfax, VA
Feb 9th
*crackle*
..M and Rocky have …..*Crackle*….
..it’s just myself and Sarah now…. *bzzzt*
But thanks to *hissss* we have enough meat to compliment the other supplies. Plenty of tobacco and alcohol to quell the snow madness. Have powder and shot to take care of interlopers.
I have been teleworking daily at *crackle* long hours, but I am getting paid.. I think.
Will transmit more as resources allow.
This Is Zhivago Point, *bzzzt*
