| New filk: Non Sequitur |
[Jul. 5th, 2008|07:43 pm] |
...Yeah, I'll probably have shoes thrown at me for this little abomination. So what.
Content: Exactly what it says on the tin.
TTTO "Dragostea din tei", O-Zone (AKA numa numa yay)
( Non Sequitur )
If anybody has additional alternate choruses to add - write a comment. :) |
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| Saturday |
[Jul. 5th, 2008|07:28 pm] |
Going to a Bar Mitzva or a cousin of mine tonight. Neither my parents nor I are thrilled or happy to go, but not coming would be too much a breach of protocol - the son of one of my mom's brothers. At least it's only half an hour's drive from here.
Piano! I played today after I haven't played for two weekends straight. Technically I went backwards, of course, but there's a marked improvement in Sound - in the Song Without Words #4 I managed to produce glass-like Sound, like it should be. #3 is progressing, slowly, and I even dared to touch #46 after not touching it for months, but touch is all I did. Worked also on the French Suite - the Gavotte is finally progressing. Maybe i'll even start on the Saraband in not too long.
My mom is being... well, herself. |
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[Jul. 5th, 2008|05:52 pm] |
Meme!
from ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) adrianna_r
01) Bold what is true about you.
02) Underline what is half true.
03) Italicize what you wish was true about you.
04) Add one true thing about you to the end of the list.
05) Tag five LJ friends.
06) Ask me anything about the bold/italicized/underlined.
[Unknown LJ tag]</lj>
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| Graphics! |
[Jul. 5th, 2008|12:48 pm] |
My oh so talented friend daemonfall made not one, not two, but eleven Ironbat icons!!! And he has allowed me to share with you all!
  ( Nine More! )
Don't forget to credit daemonfall!
And no hot linking! |
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| 5 Question Meme |
[Jul. 5th, 2008|12:35 pm] |
aesiron asked me five questions.
If you'd like me to ask you questions in return, just leave a comment saying so... you know the drill.
( 5 questions and their answers ) |
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| So Sick It's Fantastic! |
[Jul. 5th, 2008|12:50 am] |
Best.
Photo-shop.
Ever.
Thank you aesiron for knowing what I like and sharing it with me.
Despite the fact that you hate Bruce *gives you the bat-glare*
*huggles*
Somebody make me an icon out of the "Iron Bat" logo and the words... pretty please?!?!
My monster fangrrl will be eternally grateful and credit thee forever! |
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| With still a million things to say... |
[Jul. 4th, 2008|07:31 pm] |
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http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2008/07/with-still-milion-things-to-say.html Today the Arcadian idyll turned into something an awful lot more like work. TV interviews all morning, press conference all afternoon. Oh well.
Neil,I'm in Campinas-Brasil, and it's a 5-hours-car trip to Paraty. If I get there, most likely on Saturday, where can I find you since I don't have a ticket to Flip? I really, REALLY would love to have you sign one of books. I, like many in this sunny country am a major fan of yours. I REALLY love your books! And I'm dying to get my hands on Graveyard Book and Neverwhere...Thanks for the attention Livia
Let's see... first of all, you don't need a ticket for FLIP. You do need a ticket to get into the main tent where the authors are talking, or to sit down and watch the overflow screen -- but you can watch the interview without sitting down or listen from anywhere near where the big screen overflow place is. Richard Price and I will be talking at 11:45 am. As for signing, there will be a signing at about 1.00pm on Saturday in the signing area, which will undoubtedly go on for a while. We will probably have to limit the number of things I sign (so for heaven's sake don't hitchhike or drive carrying all the Sandman books plus another set for a dying friend -- they won't get signed. It will be two, maybe three things are most). I'll stop signing at 7.00pm when Tom Stoppard's talk starts, because I want to hear it.
I'll also be on on Sunday at the DESERT ISLAND BOOKS panel at 5.00pm -- there's no signing planned after that, though.
There may be more signing, there may not -- probably not, as the organisers haven't planned for it. I may sign stuff if you bump into me on the cobblestones or in the town square and ask nicely or just hold something out and smile (I have been so far, but it'll depend a bit on how many people try and whether I need to get from place to place) especially if you can do it without making it look like I've suddenly decided to do a signing in the street. |
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| Question of Everything |
[Jul. 4th, 2008|08:10 pm] |
( There is a moral aspect to everything. I think I had always known that, had always been living life defined by this. )
( The more one knows, the more one understands; the more theory becomes practiced reality. )
( When all questions converge to one, and there is no escape. )
It's hard. I'm finding and putting together answers to questions that may otherwise lead to nihilism, but i'm also finding that life doesn't work this way. I find even compassion and survival instinct tainted - because conflict exists, whether the offence is an idiot at a workplace or an enemy nation, and then there is no clear answer for when compassion becomes allowing oneself to become a victim, when self-protection becomes malignant dominance.
It's easier in theory and in fiction. It's not even remotely easy in real life, when the enemy is neither a theoretical construct nor an evil space overlord, and then all promises of comfort would fail save that I know I cannot afford to allow this to happen.
This post was about trying to live with - with the understanding, down to the bones, that any and all religions are society-scale Complext PTSD: humanity bargaining with its percieved captor. Put colloquially, this fucks with someone's head. Really writing the post I wanted to write requires a lot more - well, it requires putting my case in a couple thousands words so as to present it properly, and i'm too tired for this right now. But the question is the same as the one I raised in the post I did write, so. |
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| Finding a place to live |
[Jul. 4th, 2008|12:02 pm] |
So the verdict was handed down, and now I officially am going to be homeless, unless I find a place to live.
How does one go about finding decently-priced places in Manhattan, preferably in the downtown/Financial District/Battery Park area? I’ve never had to do that part of living in NYC yet, and I’m a little lost.
The apartment I’ve been staying in now was owned by my grandmother, and was part of some sort of cooperative. The legal deal was that unless you can prove two years of cohabitation with the original resident, there is no right of inheritance, succession, or any of that jazz.
When she passed away, that kicked off their legal department, and there has been plenty of paperwork flying back and forth, with appeals and such, and that’s it - appeal denied, vacate by the 20th.
So at this point, I know that some of you know people “in the know” in New York, so if you know of someone’s place that’s sitting vacant and needs someone to house-watch it, or know someone with good connections in the real estate field, connect me - I don’t want to have to move out of the city.
Originally published at Mike's House. Please leave any comments there. |
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| Lies, Media Lies and Skewed Statistics |
[Jul. 4th, 2008|05:23 pm] |
I have a question?
Have you ever been accused of being brain-washed, having voiced an "unpopular" position or opinion?
I always find that kind of response to be such a cop-out from actually giving any thought to an opinion that doesn't fit the general consensus.
I mean if what I have to say causes you such insecurity maybe one should think about why and not just accept what you think as The Way Things Are.
A smart person told me that there are no facts, there are only opinions. I have to say, coming from this person I found it odd that they would have such a post-modern way of thinking (post-modern, because it basically says that there is no such thing as empirical data that can be trusted), and I agree with them... it's true. Facts have very little bearing on opinion and opinion in general is what accumulates fact.
Makes the little adage "Don't confuse me with your facts", so funny.
In any event, while "empirical data" is often skewed and changed to fit an agenda - Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics - material reality is something you can't change. It's representation in the world, yes. What actually happens... not so much.
Over the past months I've been called "brain-washed", "extreme", "strange", "provocative", "sitting in an ivory-tower", "out of touch" etc. etc.
All I can think when I hear those words thrown at me is: "I can't believe how much people refuse to look, listen and learn outside what we're spoon fed".
And then I *sigh* and shut up, listen to what's being said, what isn't being said and continue to feel confident in the security that my opinions can take the beatings the general consensus throws at them.
Here's for some ( mainstream media madness )
Here is some more information. Skewed though it may be.
Israeli Commitee Against House Demolitions. |
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| Life - the Update |
[Jul. 4th, 2008|04:42 pm] |
So after no posting for a bit, here is a short life update:
My graduation ceremony will be held at the end of July as part of the Israeli practice of giving diplomas out approximately a year after one has completed university. I'm graduating summa cum laude, in the top 2% of my class, which is very pleasing in a way that seems quite silly to me.
I have a month of craziness ahead of me and then the semester will be over. Its much more interesting then the last but also vastly more work and less time. I also hope to be able to prune my way down to only 2 jobs by then, giving me a bit more time to breath.
I will be in the US this summer from early September to early October, mostly in NYC with a short California interlude and perhaps other, I'm not sure yet. The California interlude will be Conchord, since naturally I can never manage to get to the filk cons that are somewhat closer to Israel so I picked the one practicallythe furthest away
I have now watched season 1 and most of season 2 of the new Doctor Who and its...ok. Hasn't really grabbed me, though it is amusing sometimes. Way too much of a "we want a creepy atmosphere" vibe going on for my taste. I'll see if I like season 3 better.
The filksing at our house last week was really nice. I'm glad many people could come and I hope to see those who couldn'tcome at the next one, where ever that is. (I remember a mention of the beach) |
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| Puns are the lowest form of humour. |
[Jul. 4th, 2008|04:14 pm] |
This is the kind of crap that only joshbrown can appreciate.
A thief in Paris planned to steal some paintings from the Louvre.
After much careful planning he managed to get past security, stole the paintings and made it safely to his van.
He was captured only two blocks away, however, when his van ran out of gas.
When asked how he could mastermind such a crime and then make such an obvious error, he replied, "Monsieur, that is the reason I stole the paintings....
I had no Monet to buy Degas to make the Van Gogh!"
See if you have De Gaulle to tell this one to someone else....
Courtesy of Sarah Shainhouse. |
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| Slava problems, take 2 (and a couple of cool links) |
[Jul. 3rd, 2008|03:47 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  horny | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Theatre of Tragedy - Lorelei | ] |
I don't know where to start from, quite a lot has happened in the past few weeks, and it will probably take more than one post to cover it all. I guess that linking to this hilarious XKCD strip (that Ronnie has been linking to in her gtalk status message) http://xkcd.com/441/ would probably be as good place as any.
There was the Hebrew book week, a very short-termed job, three parades, one minor-concussion, a few parties, a Leonard Cohen performance in Israel that was scheduled and canceled, Another Sex con, and much more.
Things between me and Slava haven't calmed down since that incident in the market. He's been hostile and distant. As a result I find many things to be far more annoying than I would've otherwise, other things that I might not have noticed annoy me just because I'm annoyed to begin with. Some of those things have disturbed me long before that incident, so I guess it's not all related to that, and I do believes he neglects the house more ever since then One way or another, I've reached a conclusion that are far more disturbing.
I've lost weight lately. When my mom first noted it, I hadn't found it much of a reason to concern. She's rather paranoid about my health. But as more and more people began noting it as well, cloths that used to be tight started hanging loose, and I noted that lying on my stomach on the floor hurts again, as well as rolling on my back during yoga classes, due to bones sticking out, even I got slightly worried. The fact that I'm suffering blood-pressure drops, dizziness, weakness and all that sort of things more often nowadays is even more troubling.
My blood-tests, three months ago, came out fine and even better than that, aside from my b12 count, which I work on fixing - back to eating lots of soy enriched products. So at least I know I'm ok in that end.
Tom suggested that due to Slava's health fixation there's much less junk-food (malauach, cereals, cookies, ice-cream, whatever) at home, and I'm eating much less calories, which is true. There isn't any of those at home, unless I'm the one to be them, and when I do. I'm not the only one eating them, though. I assume it could be one cause.
Getting a drink from the fridge on Friday, suggested another - the fact that I'm disgusted by what's going on in our kitchen, feeling like I'm fighting a losing battle, to keep it in a decent state, getting furious and/or nauseous whenever I walk in, and hence feeling much less motivated to cook, or even eat. It's the trash-bags filled with fruit leftovers, hanging open inviting flies to feast, that I'm the only one to throw out, the pots that are piling up, unless I wash them, and especially, his things in the fridge that are left there to develop an intelligence of their own, or what I came to define as undead food.
He got deeply into dumpster-diving lately, which means that he brings lots of fruits and veggies that he finds in the market, on the floor. Those, usually aren't in the best condition to begin with, but left in the fridge for a few days, they get to be way past disgusting. There's a bowl of fruit and veggies that I threw out on Saturday that required three plastic bags, because of all the liquids, and that's without mentioning the way it smelled.
When I mentioned this bowl of fruits and his things rotting in the fridge he said - "You've also got a few things lying there for ages, like that jar of jam", when I said that jam doesn't get rotten, he asked me in a very petty manner whether I ever eat it.
We don't communicate. and while he did ask to schedule a conversation, most of the time I'm too furious with him, and doubt that I'll be able to keep my voice down. I consider writing him a letter, but have no idea where to begin. I do know that it can't go on like this, that I want back my feeling of safety and calmness at home, and an eagerness to cook as I enter the kitchen. Not to mention that I can't afford to lose any more weight, and while it surely isn't the only reason for that, it definately contributed. Suggested solutions will be welcomed.
On a very different note, I youtubed "Lorelei" and got 2280 results. One of which was http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7O8eZnQtsu8 a series of world wars propaganda posters to the sounds of a song by the Pogues. |
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| More re yesterday |
[Jul. 3rd, 2008|03:38 pm] |
Wow, this one's becoming more fantastic whenever I check Ynet.
So yesterday's terrorist? He's not just this random guy off the street. This one, he's a known to the police on drug abuse background, and there's also this little issue of him having spent two years in jail after raping his Jewish then-girlfriend. Lovely.
That was insanity #1. Insanity #2 is the family's lawyer saying that there was no need to shoot the guy; he think that the Border Police officer who stopped him should've cuffed him. Like, hello? This guy is riding a buldozer, flipping cars and two freakin' buses and running them over and not stopping even after he'd been shot and injured and with two people hanging off of the buldozer trying to get to him, and you figure that they should've handcuffed him? Like hello, we have a raging maniac here injuring/killing people by the second, what the fuck?
And the terrorist's brother? He figures this was just a road accident gone wild. Or maybe his brother was high on something and was temporarily insane.
ETA: BBC reported the 'incident' as ''buldozer driver shot dead''. This is from the country that claims Apartheid in Israel (where Arabs are doctors and lawyers and share the campus lawn with me and everyone else), and would have Israel Academically and economically boycotted for shutting down Palestinian roads if it keeps us alive. Obviously, the only good Israelis Jews are dead Israelis Jews. Thank you, talash. |
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| Today So Far |
[Jul. 3rd, 2008|03:26 pm] |
Me: yesterday I was horrible to Alina about the AC, and today I arrived to a nice and cool lab. Who says that evil isn't worth it?
Yehu: you'll excuse me if I conscientiously object, right?
Me: i'm counting n you to.
Everything went just fine until we started on the CD at about 11:00. From then until 13:40 it went like this: go downstairs, operate machine; go upstairs, do another step or two in the mini-prep, as few as I can fit in under ten minutes; repeat. This is not a fun way to do a plasmid prep!
Roy was with me when we kicked up the machine. At 12:15 he disappeared to a seminar. At 13:20 I called him back from the post-seminar reception (it was someone's doctoral seminar) and tried to dump the rest of the work on him because I haven't eaten since seven in the morning and was at the point of having dizzy spells, but only at 13:40 I managed to sit down and eat.
I hadn't even tried doing anything resembeling work before 14:40. Then I discovered that while I thought I have six ligations to do today, as a matter of fact I have eight. I also managed to mix up the vials spectacularly during the PCR purification but i'm pretty sure I put it back together again okay.
In the past week or two I did more silly space-cased stuff than in the past half a year.
There was a reason Yehu insisted on the doing the CD yesterday. He was scheduled to leave real early today, and he was pretty damn sure that Roy and I won't manage the post-run data analysis despite that we've both done this before. As it happened, Roy and I didn't manage to so much as start the machine without help, and indeed the data is going to wait for Yehu on Sunday.
And ew, my neck's starting on me again. This responds to one of two things - excess amounts of caffeine and sugar, or lying down in a cool, darkened room. I'm not going to get the darkened room, so i'll have to make do with the self-poisoning. |
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| סיוע לימודי |
[Jul. 3rd, 2008|12:29 pm] |
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במסגרת הלימודים, אני צריך לבצע ראיונות טלפוניים לאנשים באזור ירושלים. מכיוון שאעדיף אנשים שלא ינתקו לי אחרי שאגיד "שלום", אשמח אם מי מקוראיי לו מספר טלפון עם קידומת 02 או שסתם רשום בספר הטלפון הירושלמי (איני יודע אם מנויי HOT מופיעים), אשמח להודעה אל הדוא"ל udibe at bgu.ac.il
תודה גדולה! |
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| Bad American? "Worst" Meme Ever - but still very entertaining. |
[Jul. 3rd, 2008|10:06 am] |
sabotabby did it and that's where I saw it and gakked it:
First thing's first: it is based on this little "master piece"*.
Second, here's what you do:
Bold means I agree
Struck Out means I don't agree.
Italics means I don't know
(I added personal commentary where I saw fit)
( A Bad American? Moi? )
*Or Master Piss as I like to say at times. |
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| Morning Post |
[Jul. 3rd, 2008|09:16 am] |
Apparently being nasty to Alina yesterday morning was helpful, because today I walked into a cool lab.
Took the bus from Namir Road to Uni today. Didn't feel like tackling the heat. It's weirdly dry for the Coastal Plain, and I don't believe i'm saying it but maybe the humidity was better. Taking the bus was definitely helpful, because I had the PCR running before 09:00.
Manuscript editing again. Digestion will need a little attention around 09:30, starters will need attention at 10:30, and Roy rescheduled our CD slot for today at - 11:30? 13:30? I don't remember what he said on the phone yesterday. But today he'll have attention span for it - yesterday he was stuck at a prep lab for the lab he's TAing - so it'll be fine. Judging by the way he sounded when he called yesterday, Yehu may have chewed him out a little. Either that or he was exceptionally mellow about that little disappearance act.
Coffee? Sweetened. I contemplated getting a proper coffee, but that required going out into the heat and, well, no.
Back to work, now. |
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| What the foreign media won't be telling you |
[Jul. 3rd, 2008|07:13 am] |
The perpetrator of yesterday's front-end loader rampage was Husam Taysir Dwayat, 30, father of two, living with a Jewish woman in Sur Bahir. Sur Bahir is considered to be part of united Jerusalem. He was living not far away from where Alaa Abu Dhein, the terrorist who perpetrated the Mercaz Harav Massacre three months ago, used to live. Dhein lived in the neighboring area of Jebl Mukaber. Further, Dwayat carried an Israeli ID card, and was legally working for the Jerusalem Light Rail project as the operator for the front-end loader.
Police reported that Dwayat had been previously arrested in a number of drug-related charges, and was charged with the rape of a Jewish woman in Jerusalem.
Unconfirmed are the rumours as claimed by the residents of Sur Bahir that report that Haredi teenagers cursed him and threw rocks at his bulldozer several days ago. Personally, I'm skeptical of such claims, because that kind of thing would be plastered all over the mainstream media in Israel.
Israel Radio said that one of the groups that claimed responsibility, the Galilee Liberators Brigades, is an Israeli-Arab terrorist organization that also claimed responsibility for the Mercaz Harav Massacre.
The attack lasted about 10 minutes, and Dwayat managed to get about 500 meters down Jaffa Road at one of Jerusalem's busiest intersections. The two busses that were hit were the 13, which travels through Katamon near where we live, and the new 60 line that works as a shuttle between parking lots in the city. The 13 was flipped on its side. About six cars were hit, one smashed (see Onterman, below), and one turned on its side.
Police were quick to act on the scene, firing at the cab of the bulldozer, with little effect. An off-duty soldier in civillian clothing, currently only identifiable as M due to a court order, borrowed a gun from another civillian in the area, climbed aboard the bulldozer, and shot at Dwayat, neutralizing him.
The casualties include Elizabeth Goren-Friedman, 54, a mother of three who was a teacher for blind in Jerusalem, and Batsheva Onterman, 33, who was among the first to be murdered. Onterman's 6-month old baby was rescued by emergency services, but she didn't make it out alive. The Jerusalem Post reports that she had been undergoing 2 years of fertility treatments until she finally got pregnant. The third death was that of an elderly man, Jean Raloy. Not much is known of him, as no details were released before press time. |
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