http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/typepad/CuteOverload/~3/PgkHKkWKdJ0/

http://cuteoverload.com/?p=104190

Just..wait..and..be..very..very…….quiet.

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Cats

When I decided to take today as a ME day, I thought it was a good idea. Like the above photo, I thought a mani/pedi followed by hair color and cut would be the perfect antidote to the 14 hours I spent yesterday getting 4 presentations in the can (well, at least the power point piece). Best laid plans and all that intervened. Instead of the spa type day I envisioned, the day threw several monkeywrenches at me (and the monkeys on those wrenches were flinging things, too, not just wrenches). I felt more like this:



Despite the bumps along the way, I love the color on my nails and the color in my hair. The professionals whose job it is to make that happen came through despite some challenges. Why, oh why am I talking about nail polish and hair ink? Well, because the bottom line is that professionals do a job I could not. If I had attempted to paint nails or color hair, the disaster would have been more than the speed bumps I experienced today. As a matter of fact, the woman that does my hair color labored over me for 2 hours until SHE was as pleased as I was.

So, why won't others leave it to professionals? Why does the NCTQ get a pass on the credentials of their investigators (and actually I think the word INSTIGATORS is more accurate)? Why do professional organizations still support the IDEA of CCSS instead of asking why we are mired in this mess? Why just call for a moratorium on testing (and the IRA finally came along today to add their voices to the call for a period of "wait and see") when we need clarion calls to reject a curriculum that has serious flaws? Have we sunk so low as a profession that we no longer are permitted to offer opinions?

As you can see, I did have some time to ponder the imponderable today. I even fit in bout 70 pages of a book I had been waiting to read for a week. Now, I am focusing on heading to Maine and the Boothbay Institute at the end of the week. That is a different kind of ME day (get it?).

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/typepad/CuteOverload/~3/Wk6jNH_pN5Q/

http://cuteoverload.com/?p=103731

She won’t play anymore. Is she tired? Can’t you make her play with me?

Sender-inner Aimee B. tells us that the young Wheaten is Ella and the worn out Wheaten is Lady.

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Cute or Sad?, Pups, Snorgle, Wheatens

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/typepad/CuteOverload/~3/uUgOGCZCV6Y/

http://cuteoverload.com/?p=103769

Look into my eyes. That’s right. Now, listen carefully. We are gonna run around like crazy and then tackle each other and then run around some more. You can do this. Go on three..are you ready? One, two…

Tazz the pup and Pippin the kitten by Hannah W.

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Interspecies Snorgling, Kittens, Pups

Note: These are initial thoughts which need further discussion and perhaps revision. This critique does not come from a position of superiority, everyone is prone self-righteous hubris when pontificating and I'm certainly guilty of it. Update: it has also been revised for clarity.

Recently David Simon had a bit of a concern troll meltdown on his blog, saying the Snowden case as naught but a faux-scandal and the mass collection of data matters little because, well, 9/11 happened. Some of his points are dubious and the overall sneering condescension passed off as populism undermines even the valid ones.

I doubt Simon would every refer to "sheeple" but his initial post and subsequent replies to critics seem like that who he is scolding. Frustration with the uninformed or widespread misinformation is justified, but the sense everyone is stupid but oneself is folly. It tends to place the emphasis on establishing your status than arguing the point at hand.

Simon has now escalated into deploying the n-word (via a quote by a black comedian which makes it totes okay). It's used for shock (wake up sheeple) and to position critics as not only stupid but also racist as no-one (no-one at all) was upset about civil liberties when it was only happening to minorities and the poor. This strawman manages to obscure the discussion of stop and frisk, the racist drug war, etc. by those now freaking over Prism, reduces those directly impacted to helpless silence (save when championed by HBO dramas) and implies Simon's long career is a disaster, as all attempts to address these issues in fiction, journalism and blunt essays went unnoticed by the hundreds of thousands or more who saw them. That's some spectacularly shitty communication. It also handwaves the racial and economic aspects of mass surveillance in the war on terror, which is odd. Given Simon's passionate critique of the war on drugs you'd think he'd be equally concerned about the other conceptual war without end, "But those planes really did hit those buildings."

Generalizations can be a valid rhetorical device. Some reactions to Prism, particularly on the right, are in stark contrast to general indifference towards brazenly racist violations. But again, even the valid points run up against a streak of myopic superiority directed at the same masses who are supposed to be informed. It's so grating it retroactively points to flaws in The Wire. Not fatal ones, but things out in the open yet given a pass due to the overall quality, which I may get around to later.

• What did you recently finish reading?

Who Cooked the Last Supper? billed as the women's history of the world by Rosalind Miles. It isn't exactly my kind of history-- I like specifics and anecdotes-- but nevertheless it is a brilliant book and will make you laugh with RAGE. It may also make possessers of uteri attempt to find possessers of penii and... well, change that. Still, very, very much worth a read, for everyone who considers themselves a feminist, and maybe more importantly for everyone who doesn't.

I also read a couple of collections of love poems, which were pretty white-male-European focused and meh, and Regarding the Fountain, which I believe I've written about before.


• What are you currently reading?

How to Survive the Titanic: The Sinking of J. Bruce Ismay, which is a biography of Ismay framed in the story of the Titanic. Sort of. It could also be the story of the Titanic as seen through the life of Ismay. Either way, it's very intriguing. Also Wayside School is Falling Down, which is MUCH weirder than I remember, and The Stranger Beside Me, about Ted Bundy, because I enjoy true crime and also promised Sara sociopaths at play because I have this prompt (Friends help you move. True friends help you move bodies.) and come on. Also Team Human, because it's hilarious. "A vampire that wants to go to high school? Come on."


• What do you think you’ll read next?

Mademoiselle Boleyn, because I borrowed it from shadowsong and have had it too long. Apart from that, beats me, whatever I pick up next.



As always, if you have recommendations or questions, let me know!

This entry is crossposted at http://bookblather.dreamwidth.org/179948.html. Please comment over there if possible.

Browsing little_details is SO MUCH FUN. Already I have Plans for the Spartacus AU (heteropaternal superfecundation, wooooo) and a resource for anything involving Summer's job (can I get a big round of applause for Ed the Pathology Guy).

All of that said, I still haven't found any information on the terrible things I plan for the EPIC PIRATE AU. Rargh. Basically, ( cut for pregnancy/birth complications, infertility, and general possibly upsetting grossnessCollapse )

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/typepad/CuteOverload/~3/W3fHPoaepZM/

http://cuteoverload.com/?p=103791

Take two marmie kittens and slap a tabby betwixt ‘em for a most delicious sandwich. Don’t you think you deserve a heaping helping of fuzzy love?

Josh N. serves us up another artful entre’.

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Kittens, Marmies, Snorgle, Tabbies

[their transcript has no timestamps, but just assume that each line of the chat is at least 30 seconds apart from the next one, and often more than a minute.]

Secure Connection

You are now connected with Angela Mae from BN.com

Elena: I would like to delete my account.

Elena: Hi. Can you please tell me how to delete my account?

Elena: Is anyone there?

Elena: Well, if I didn't want to delete my account already, I certainly would now.

Angela Mae: Hi, Elena.. This is Angela Mae. Thanks for joining Barnes and Noble Chat.

Elena: Hi. Can you please tell me how to delete my account?

Angela Mae: I understand that you would like to deactivate your account. Let me help you with this.

Angela Mae: May I please have the email address linked to your account?

Elena: [redacted]

Angela Mae: Thanks for the information.

Angela Mae: For security reasons and before I can complete your request, can you please provide me the Mailing address that is linked to your account?

Elena: [also redacted]

Angela Mae: Thank you very much!

Angela Mae: We have successfully deactivated your BN.com account linked to [redacted]

Elena: Thank you. Goodbye.

Angela Mae: You can use the same email address to reactivate your account.

Angela Mae: Is there anything else I can do for you?

[chat disconnected]

No, there isn't. I didn't actually want my account deactivated, I wanted it removed from the database altogether. And I didn't want to use your extremely crappy online chat, I wanted to delete it myself, but there was no way of doing that, and the FAQs gave no information about that. Nor did the FAQs on buying ebooks, or the page for the book I wanted to buy, make it clear that the book I wanted is only available to US customers. I had to sign up for an account and give them all my info and dig out my debit card (they don't take PayPal!) all to find out that Australians are not welcome here.

I want to do something REALLY REALLY UNPLEASANT to whoever writes their documentation, and to whoever Angela Mae actually is (because I have worked site support, and know a canned answer when I see it.)

(Originally posted at Dreamwidth Link | comments | Leave a comment)