Migraines Suck

Picturing the Past 10 Years

Teeny tiny piece of the chart by Philip Niemeyer. Click for full piece.

Fin

..via Cardboard Manifesto

Not my first choice...

...but I wouldn't mind having amazing memory skills as a super power.

Especially as much as I enjoy details and memorizing minutiae yet forget so very, very much at the same time, this would be incredibly handy. I cannot really see a strong downside to this, as my mind already seems to like to never be able to undo the metal images planted due to all of the rather repugnant conversations I find myself engaging in daily.

And yes, I am 6 months late in finding out about this.

Photography by Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre

Ruins are the visible symbols and landmarks of our societies
and their changes, small pieces of history in suspension.

The state of ruin is essentially a temporary situation that happens at
some point, the volatile result of change of era and the fall of empires.
This fragility, the time elapsed but even so running fast, lead us to watch them one very last time :
being dismayed, or admire, making us wondering about the permanence of things.

Photography appeared to us as a modest way
to keep a little bit of this ephemeral state.

Somehow the abandoned buildings of Dallas just don't compare to the ruins of Detroit, Germany or the theatres as captured by Marchand and Meffre.

Lack of Moment in Time

I just spent a perfectly lovely evening hanging out with this beautiful girl, her husband and a few friends, and I forgot to take any photos of her before she spawns in about a month.

So I stole this photo from her.

And while I'm not one for kids, I can't wait to see this one, because I fully suspect it might be a very hairy troll, due to Bria's teeny tiny size and James's vast amount of dark hair, as seen here.

Plus, I got to have my breasts verified as real thanks to James's soon to be patented vertical mammogram hugs. Good times.

Pearl of Wisdom

"But the thing is...you know when you're a kid and they tell you 'let's all grow up, get a job, get married, get a house, have a kid' and that's it. Ah, but the truth is the world is so much stranger than that. So much darker and so much madder. And so much better."

--Dr. Who, episode Love and Monsters

I'm a Dork

So this is the kind of stupid stuff I notice while watching television. Watching old Dr. Who episodes while my brain tries to beat its way out through my temples, and I happen to see in some inane scene that the character talking just happens to have the same blue Ikea rug I used to own.

This was a big moment for me.

Yeah, I do happen to be a nerd who sits at home with my migraine on a Friday night. Happy New Year to me.

I Don't Belive in Resolutions

"Every man should be born again on the first day of January. Start with a fresh page. Take up one hole more in the buckle if necessary, or let down one, according to circumstances; but on the first of January let every man gird himself once more, with his face to the front, and take no interest in the things that were and are past." ~Henry Ward Beecher

New Year, New Decade, Medieval Thinking

From today, 1 January 2010, the new Irish blasphemy law becomes operational, and we begin our campaign to have it repealed. Blasphemy is now a crime punishable by a €25,000 fine. The new law defines blasphemy as publishing or uttering matter that is grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters held sacred by any religion, thereby intentionally causing outrage among a substantial number of adherents of that religion, with some defences permitted.

Despite these quotes being abusive and insulting in relation to matters held sacred by various religions, we unreservedly support the right of these people to have published or uttered them, and we unreservedly support the right of any Irish citizen to make comparable statements about matters held sacred by any religion without fear of being criminalised, and without having to prove to a court that a reasonable person would find any particular value in the statement.

Can we also put into laws that it is illegal to speak against someone's political views, gender choices, disabilities, car choices, foods they eat, etc? We could solve the entire political process by just banning everything!

This is not a step forward. Progress requires freedom of thought, not legal restrictions. Let everyone state their beliefs as they wish, not hold one belief as higher than any other. As the website states after quote #24: "Because atheism is not a religion, the Irish blasphemy law does not protect atheists from abusive and insulting statements about their fundamental beliefs. While atheists are not seeking such protection, we include the statement here to point out that it is discriminatory that this law does not hold all citizens equal.