Friday, October 31, 2008

Ghost Stories


Haunted Driveway
Originally uploaded by Averain
It is that time of year and I thought I would post some of my favorite spots for reading ghost stories:

http://www.horrormasters.com/Themes/Haunted_Houses.htm
http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/l#a272 (Le Fanu is amazing)
http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/j#a2768 (M. R. James is my favorite ghost story author of all time.)
http://gaslight.mtroyal.ca/

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Relay For Life Ridgecrest 2008

I participated in the Relay for Life again this year and it was a great experience. I highly recommend it.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Political Speech (aka. Lying)

From this article:

"We don't have a lot of leeway on time. One of the individuals in the caucus today talked about a major insurance company. A major insurance company -- one with a name that everyone knows that's on the verge of going bankrupt. That's what this is all about," Reid said prior to the Senate's approval of the $700 billion bailout bill.

and from a little later in the article:

A spokesman for Sen. Reid backtracked a bit Thursday and said that the senator was not aware of any company being in danger of bankruptcy.

"Senator Reid is not personally aware of any particular company being on the verge of bankruptcy. He has no special knowledge about [a bankruptcy] nor has he talked to any insurance company officials," said Jim Manley, spokesman for Sen. Reid, in an email to CNNMoney.com.

"Rather, his comments were meant to refer to the conditions in the financial sector generally. He regrets any confusion his comments may have caused," Manley added.

So saying, "One of the individuals in the caucus today talked about a major insurance company ... one with a name that everyone knows that's on the verge of going bankrupt" is meant to "refer to the conditions in the financial sector generaly" and does not refer to "any particular company being on the verge of bankruptcy."


Right.


I wish our politicians could tell the truth, really I do. I guess that they would get voted out of office in favor of the lying ones (just like when somebody says they don't like a "negative campaign" and then votes against somebody on the ticket because of all the bad things they heard about them) but just once it would be refreshing to have them not flatly contradict themselves in public.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

How to Increase Your Flickr Views


Little Cat
Originally uploaded by Averain
Apparently nothing quite brings up the Flickr view count like a picture of a cute cat. This one has my highest number of comments, the most group invites, and the most faves I've had on any photo since I started with Flickr.