As if the environment weren't already screwed enough...

Methane Gas Upwellings Threaten to Increase Climate Change

Excerpt:

"The first evidence that millions of tons of a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide is being released into the atmosphere from beneath the Arctic seabed has been discovered by scientists. [...] massive deposits of sub-sea methane are bubbling to the surface as the Arctic region becomes warmer and its ice retreats.

Underground stores of methane are important because scientists believe their sudden release has in the past been responsible for rapid increases in global temperatures, dramatic changes to the climate, and even the mass extinction of species. Scientists aboard a research ship that has sailed the entire length of Russia's northern coast have discovered intense concentrations of methane – sometimes at up to 100 times background levels – over several areas covering thousands of square miles of the Siberian continental shelf."

The good news just keeps a-coming, doesn't it?

Public Service Announcement

For anyone who may not have seen this entry over at Making Light, Teresa Neilsen Hayden is in the hospital following what is suspected to have been a heart attack. From information given over there, she is resting comfortably and appears to be doing all right... check the entry and the comments thread over there for updates.

Because you can never have too much Douglas Adams...

...I offer the following:

"There is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened." -Douglas Adams

(For more quotes from Adams' wonderful books, go here.)

As seen on alt.callahans

Although it isn't exactly a joking matter, I present the following link in the spirit of laughter being better than crying:

Good joke: Homeland Security Alerts

Breaking Radio Silence

Because I've found something to say.

It's September already?? Sheesh, summer was short this year. Took forever to get here, too, so I hope winter will do likewise. School just started a couple of weeks ago, and I've picked up a college course again, after fifteen years sitting out of academia. It feels good. Interestingly enough, I'm not even the oldest person in my class; more like middle of the pack from what I can tell. It's a small class, about fifteen people, with an interesting mix of personalities which is really good in a creative writing class. It's having the intended effect of getting me past my recent bout of writer's block, so definitely worth a couple hours out of my day twice a week. On the other hand, I've spent more of my writerly energies on material for class rather than on anything here. I promise to try to bring that more into balance over the next week or so.

I'm not going to say much about the current election season right now, as so many others have said the things that are on my mind right now so much better than I can. Let me just register my opinion that Obama is pretty much the only hope I think this nation has, McCain is frighteningly, increasingly delusional, and his choice of Palin as a running mate will, I HOPE, put paid to any chance he may have had for winning the election. More about politics later when I'm feeling more in the mood to write in that mode...

And I just got a very nice delivery this afternoon of some microbrewed beers from Texas, courtesy of a Houstonian friend. Thank you, David. You rock.

More later...

Sorry I'm so quiet

Still playing post-Pennsic catchup. Who knew that getting stuff ready would consume so much time that it would push every other aspect of my life onto the back burner? So here I am, trying to convince those other aspects that yes, I still love them. (Except for the dust bunnies. I don't love them.)

Also, burning out on politics. Must think about bunnies now. Or unicorns.

Random Meme

Today's meme, courtesy of a friend on LJ. You're supposed to go to Wikipedia and enter your birth date (month/day) and then pick 3 events, 2 births and 1 holiday that occurred on the day of your birthday.

Here's mine: August 13th

Events:
3114 BC - According to the Lounsbury correlation, the start of the Maya calendar.
1553 - Michael Servetus is arrested by John Calvin in Geneva as a heretic.
1940 - World War II: Battle of Britain begins - the Luftwaffe launches a series of attacks on British fighter bases and radar installations.

Births;
1899 - Alfred Hitchcock, English film director (d. 1980)
1935 - Mudcat Grant, American baseball player

Holiday:
Roman festivals - Vertumnalia in honor of Vertumnus and Diana, on the Aventine hill.

So tired....

Back from Pennsic. Tired. Happy. Afraid of the giant laundry mountain.

More later, when I dig out.

Off to Pennsic

Bye, bye, intarwebz! As of tomorrow, I'm off to the Middle Ages for a little over a week.* Miss you! Mwah! Don't do anything I wouldn't do (or if you do, make sure you write a juicy post about it)!

::scurries off to pack more stuff::

*Note to self: some year, go for BOTH weeks.

Pennsic countdown

Pre-Pennsic To-Do list: (We leave Saturday 8/2 to go back out for the rest of War)

Buy rope for tent
Erect tent and wash it, let dry
Waterproof tent
Build Slat Bed!!!! (or a reasonable subsititute)
Get Futon   Found a Futon Bed at Ikea that will work
Size plastic tarp to tent footprint for groundcloth
Get painter's tarp tent floor (over plastic tarp)
Get EZ-Up to use as a sunshade
Get more rugs for tent floor
Get solar charger for cellphones
Buy 3 saris
Make 6 cholis
Make three sari petticoats
Make 2 Roman tunicae
Finish European garb for me and for D
Buy extra totes that will fit under slat bed
Get 2 more lanterns
Get 2 tall shepherd's-crook poles
Finish and bottle homemade beverages

Well, that was rather more excitement than I had planned on having today

I've been smelling hot asphalt and combustion-like odors for the past couple of hours or so, thanks to the roadwork in progress both a block to the west and half a block to the north of here. Ugh. But just a few minutes ago the burning-like smell intensified, followed by the sound of sirens as two fire engines, the chief's vehicle, and an ambulance converged on my neighborhood. I looked out the window to see a slight haze of smoke drifting through the air, and went outside in time to see firefighters hustling toward the house two doors south of mine. A couple of minutes later, they emerged shrugging as the smoke haze dissipated, while others walked up toward the roadwork zone to the north or gestured toward the west. As I watched traffic stack up (including a city bus and several cars), I overheard snatches of conversation containing phrases like "smell" and "construction zone" and "I'm not sure" between the various firefighters and the chief, and about ten minutes later, everyone had boarded their vehicles and left again.

I've not a clue what happened. But it sure got everyone's attention, as folks all over the neighborhood dropped what they were doing to watch.

This is why I <3 xkcd

As someone who has been A) a lifelong night owl and B) a semi-chronic insomniac for most of the past 20 years, I can totally relate. Although I have thus far always lived in the Eastern time zone, I have often felt as though my personal internal clock is set to at least Pacific time, if not Honolulu time.

Apparently, Republicans are confused over the concepts of "public" and "free speech"

So much for the First Amendment:

Sign-toting librarian charged with trespassing at public campaign event

Also covered here.

Ah, civil liberties, we hardly knew ye.

Grouse, grumble

Why the frell is Tribe.net down so damn much lately???? "Hey, everybody, let's start a big social networking site and then try to run it with inadequate equipment and incompetent staff!"

*fume*

Watch this!

Seriously, this is full of "squeeee" and "aaawwwww"! I don't even care that it's a commercial, it's one of those videos where you come away grinning from ear to ear at the end.



Found here, courtesy of Making Light (thanks, TNH!).

Medieval technology helps save gas

I wonder if they give frequent flyer miles? *snork*

4:45 AM...

...or somewhere in that vicinity, anyway. There must be something about that time, as I seem to have a distressing habit of waking up around then most mornings and being awake for anywhere between twenty minutes and an hour before going back to sleep. It doesn't happen so much if I take Ambien, but I really don't want to take Ambien every night, nor does my prescription allow me sufficient quantity to do so. I've no idea why I awaken so often at this time, though fortunately I am usually capable of going back to sleep eventually.

On this particular occasion, I can sort of identify the reason, or at least part of it. It's hot, it's humid, and I'm having one of my infrequent bouts of restless legs. So here I sit, sipping from a small glass of tonic water, as the quinine in it tends to help. Ghu knows there's little reason I would drink the stuff otherwise; it tastes foul. I wish I had some grape juice to mix with it to mask the taste, but I drank what was left of that on Wednesday. I suppose I should be glad I at least had the tonic water itself. I keep a small bottle of it on hand in the refrigerator for times when the twitchies hit. They haven't hit in weeks, and the tonic water is flat and even more disgusting than usual as a result. Once I get it down, I shall rinse the taste out of my mouth and go back to bed, and hopefully back to sleep for at least a little while.

Insomnia sucks. It sucks the energy right out of my body and - if it happens often enough - the clarity out of my head. After all these years of dealing with it, I suppose I should be used to it by now, but dammit, I'm tired of this. Heh. I made a funny. Bah.

Getting there, in the time of high gas prices

This explains so well one reason why I am glad we live in densely-populated inner-ring suburb of a major city. Our neighborhood is on three bus lines, has plenty of shopping and dining within easy walking distance, and yet manages to be fairly quiet and peaceful most of the time. We're a mere block (albeit a longish one) from the main drag of our suburb's business district, about three blocks from a very nice park overlooking the lake, and roughly 20 minutes by bus from the center of downtown Cleveland. Yes, I do have a car, but the point is that I don't have to drive it on a daily basis. We can even get groceries on foot, provided we don't mind getting them in small quantities rather than trying to buy an entire week's worth at one time. We can walk up the street and enjoy a meal at a small family restaurant, any of a number of taverns, or a place that has some of the best barbecue around. My fiance rides the bus to and from work, and I hope to do the same soon. (I'm jobhunting.) I can even get to and from the university by bus, and students get a very good deal on semester-long passes in the spring and fall.

Having lived in everything from rural areas and far-flung exburbs to inner-city neighborhoods during various periods in my life, I have to say that the type of area where I live now is hands-down the best mix of creature comforts and ease of transportation I've had in quite some time.

Snow? NO!!!!

*glances out window*

Snow??!?

"Snow" contains the word "no"... this should be a clue, ye foul weather system! *shivers and shakes fist at the sky*

It cans be summer nao, plz?


(Edit: Okay, so it's just an extremely light flurry, a few flakes. Still, I'd really like to be done with it until, say, next December.)

Paging Doctor Who

Mehrit on Tribe.net and Undernet's SCA Chat passed me a link to some photos from (among other things) Pennsics past, among which I found a real gem: someone disguised their camp shower to look like the TARDIS.

Way cool!

Go here and click on the second picture from the left in the second row.