Raithe

Reading more background materials, and refining this presentation. Think I've got a better grasp on it now. Also, this month has seen two ex's get back into communication with me at the same time, and both say similar sorts of things which is just a touch weird. One of which apparently has a husband who really dislikes me and who deleted my birthday from all of her calendars. I'm not sure if I should empathise with that, or feel my ego is stroked.

Heh. I think the classic I've heard is the rumours that the 5.56 was designed on purpose so it's more likely to wound then to kill, and thereby result in a further drain on the enemies resources. Of course, that tends to be from the same people who say things like "The USA started going downhill when they began to use weapons that were designed to piss off the enemy rather then kill them."

Wrapped up AC: Black Flag. They do seem to be trying to push the emotional buttons on that ending. The song being sung by the irish lass, the ship sailing into the horizon, the young daughter turning up, I get the feeling they were ticking off a check list.

One from just before Christmas.. Scientific American - Computers can be hacked using high-frequency sound

Got a nice headache and happen to have had about three hours sleep. A friend who was a little high on pain meds and muscle relaxers after a trip to the ER decided to call and needed to talk in the early hours of the morning.

Watched some Father Brown. The latest adaption of the G K Chesterton stories about a small parish Catholic priest in the 50's who happens to have an inquisitive mind and keeps helping the police to solve various crimes, even when they don't want his help. Interesting in a lot of ways, that he spends as much time working on the basis of the greater good and making sure everyone's souls are saved as much as dealing with strictly legal "good". Having been exposed to the horrors of World War 1 as a young man, and then a few decades of hearing confessionals, he tends to have a quirky understanding of the depths of human evil. Rather then being a deductive Sherlock Holmes type, he's more of the intuitive: "You see, I had murdered them all myself... I had planned out each of the crimes very carefully. I had thought out exactly how a thing like that could be done, and in what style or state of mind a man could really do it. And when I was quite sure that I felt exactly like the murderer myself, of course I knew who he was." This current series has Mark Williams in the lead role (as in, the Weasley father from the Potter films). I find it quirkily entertaining, but it never managed to quite match up to Alec Guinness' version in the old Father Brown film version.

Trying to get to grips with a presentation. Worked out roughly what needs to be said, but so far it's still in a general casual rambling way rather then an educational professional way. Also, I seem to have a small stitch just under my left rib, that's been lurking for about 2 days now, but at least it seems to be fading now.

Let's throw in the general assortment to keep things moving...

http://youtu.be/iyqfHvoUtkU

Well I've got all of Sleepy Hollow saved up. I've only watched the pilot, so I have to block out some time and do a marathon at some point. Oh, and the new Archer has started. Isis get's shut down and they turn to crime.. That should be interesting.

"The makers of Sesame Street released a statement saying Bert and Ernie aren't gay because puppets don't have sexual orientations."

Heh, with Iaido (at least in the UK) you have all sorts of fun legal issues on travelling to and from dojo. I actually have what's basically a pool cue case/bag that I have to carry my katana in when outside the house. On which note, I'll always remember when one of the visiting Masters came over from Japan. The guy was that literal "small, hunched, creaking, slow Japanese guy".. and then he shuffled out onto the floor..and boom. It was like Yoda. Fluid, smooth, fast. Wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am. He stopped, sheathed the blade..then went straight back into the hunched, creaky positioning, and shuffled off slowly. Hm, kind of lost the weekend in a weird mix of pillaging/plundering on AC:Black Flag and some phone conversations with an ex that have gone everywhere from supportive, general chit chat, talk about her kids these days and flirty memories.

For that Friday ending..

For one that'll probably appeal to Hurlshot.. io9 - Student Rickrolls his teacher in Quantum Physics paper

Urf. Back from a batch of errands around the village. Hm, it's 16:30, it's a grim day and I've just got in.. I think I'm going to call it quits for work, make a cup of tea, and then see what AC: Black Flag is like on the pc.

Duffelblog - Former Marines start a Kickstarter to retake Fallujah

Hm, stuffy head and a nose bleed, plus my sister dropped off her big dog here for us to "babysit" for the day & night because she's got some mix of work event she won't be able to get home from, and a big evening out thing.

I do kind of wish they'd been able to do more with both Spelljammer and Birthright. The whole magicked up version of pulpy space opera seemed like an interesting idea, even if they got caught up trying to wedge connections into every campaign setting they had. Birthright was another interesting experiment in trying to push AD&D into that closer connection with grand fantasy, and almost linking to old school war gaming.

Gracias Nep. Taking it slow at the moment, an American friend decided to call and wish me happy birthday but got time zones a little out, which meant the phone call came through at about 4am. Got up to another phone call this morning, which required me to switch on the PC and do some work, but then I kind of zoned out for another two hours after I got that done. Mostly I take it slow on my birthday. I have to admit, I always feel a bit odd because yesterday was the anniversary/birthday of an older sister I never met because she died in birth. So there's no real emotional slam on just, just a general feeling of oddness from going from that date to my birthday.

Random nosebleeds can certainly throw off your train of thought...

I still say I expected Watson to do it, not Sherlock. Out of curiosity I picked up Veronica Mars and am currently doing a marathon.

Groovy. I'll give that a try and see how it shakes out.

Okay, for that Monday start.. what mysterious wonders shall we pluck from the depths of the internet..

It can wildly depend on your taste and willingness to put up with lack of proper editing. There are a lot of interesting indie sci-fi , pulpy adventure stuff. Sure, some of it isn't as elegant or deep as you might find otherwise... but there can still be some gems hidden away even in a serious mary sue story.