[Most Recent Entries] [Calendar View] [Friends View]
Below are the most recent 25 friends' journal entries.
| Wednesday, November 11th, 2009 | ||
|
mousme |
8:33a | One year ago today. One year ago today Emru Townsend passed away. You can STILL make a difference, still honour his memory, by registering to donate bone marrow. Educate yourselves, educate your friends. 1. 70% of people requiring a stem cell transplant need an unrelated donor. The first choice is a family member, but more people will have to rely on a stranger. 2. Register by providing a blood sample in Quebec or the UK, or a cheek swab sample in the rest of Canada or the US. In the US, UK and most of Canada, you can even fill in your registration online and get a kit sent to your home. This is a free service in many countries, and in the US, there are ways to register for free. 3. Donation is safe, fast, and not risky. You never donate stem cells or bone marrow at risk to your own life. Whatever is donated replenishes itself naturally in the body. 4. There are 2 ways to do it. 70% of people will donate in a process that takes a few hours and is similar to donating blood. For a few days leading up to the extraction process, the donor receives injections to produce additional stem cells in the body. 30% of people will donate by having liquid marrow extracted from within the back of the pelvic bone. 5. Many people cannot find matches. Giving blood is important, and people who need transplants (in addition to many other people) need blood to survive. There are 8 blood types, but several million combinations of possible human leukocyte antigen (HLA) profiles - 150 billion different possibilities in theory. Where to go for more information: http://www.onematch.ca OneMatch (Canada) free http://www.hema-quebec.qc.ca Hema-Quebec (Quebec) free http://www.marrow.org National Marrow Donor Program (US) free in person if you are in a minority donor pool, subsidized or free at some bone marrow drives, free online registration with promo code http://www.dkmsamericas.org DKMS Americas (US) Find out how to register without leaving home for free or by paying what you can http://www.anthonynolan.org.uk Anthony Nolan Trust (UK) free Current Mood:  pensive |
|
mousme |
8:04a | Aaand he's back! The Prodigal Kitty returns! None the worse for wear, but VERY clingy. I had three messages from ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} moonandtree on my machine this morning. He knew I was on the lookout for George.The first message was something like this: "Hi mousme, it's around midnight and I have George here. He's fine, and I'm going to try knocking on your door."Since I was at work last night, the following message ran thusly: "Hi mousme, George is with me. Hopefully you'll come by before I leave for work tomorrow morning."The last message went like this: "Hi mousme. I tried keeping George in but he has not. stopped. yowling. since he came in, and so I've kicked him out. He's in the garden."Anyway, many thanks to moonandtree for going above and beyond the call of duty and putting up with a very loud and fussy brat of a kitty. :)All is well, and now I am going to bed. Cats. Current Mood:  relieved |
|
mousme |
7:57a | |
|
raggedy_man |
12:19p | |
|
s0b |
11:11a | Strange Days - crossing the railway There is a sudden change in scenery as we cross the railway. People crouch alongside the tracks waiting for the train, but we pile on over and in an instant are on a winding mountain road, stuck behind a tanker, in the foothills of the Himalayas! The light is fading fast as we rise out of the smog and into the clouds, darting past the tanker on a blind corner with only seconds to spare. The fixer, who was in the car behind us has fallen behind, but I have stopped looking for him. I am looking at The Road. It just keeps going up. The trees grow up a cliff and the Road picks its way between them. The world is vertical here. We pass through a small village guarded by a dragon statue. It is Oriental rather than Indian and it stares out, over a cliff, at the land that was recognisably India, on the other side of the railway tracks |
|
s0b |
10:59a | Strange Days - The Road The Road leads out of the desert. I have driven on it before; on other continents, in other lands but it is, nevertheless, the same Road. The Road God is strong here, despite the presence of Hindu and Buddhism everyone on The Road prays to The Road God each time they sound their horn and accelerate into a too too solid gap. We've been on The Road an hour and made less than 12 miles out of the 200 or so we need to cover. The light is fading and the shanty-stalls by the road side are starting to light their paraffin lamps. We're just coming up to the 24 hour mark and all I want now is a shower and somewhere to clean my teeth. We've still got a military checkpoint to clear and then a winding road out of Bengal and up into the mountains. The Road is bad; not Africa bad, not yet, but the potholes are enough to stop me dropping off. The military presence is increasing with every minute. It looks like an army camp, but with random cows and women in saris riding side-saddle on motorbikes. The road is starting to clear as we head into the trees. Our local man is smoking in the front - he's given up trying to make conversation - we're both too tired to be usefully lucid, and I'm starting to head towards that proper sleep deprived Half-World where I can see the tigers in the woods that are not there keep pace with the landrover as we overtake another army truck. Signal dropping in and out now, so not sure when I will get to post this. Like in Africa I will have to save the update and post them when I can. |
|
chalicier |
10:49a | We're incorporated, finally. Everybody say hello to Mutant Caterpillar Games Ltd! We've moved into an office on the Science Park (notably smaller than the last one but still way too big for 3 people) and now we're getting on with prototyping while we wait for the bank to get around to giving us an account so we can transfer money in and get broadband set up. The "we" in question consists of me, Cerys and Ian Gledhill (a former colleague of mine from Broadsword). We have a good strong concept for an XBLA game, which is something of a synergy of our 3 approaches (retro game mechanics from Ian, conceptual storyline from me, visual aesthetic from Cerys). The plan is to try to find enough startup grant money to get this game developed without needing money from publishers. We'll still need a publisher - you can't get on XBLA without it - but they'll purely be acting as publishers, not as funding partners. That way we get a much bigger cut, and XBLA being what it is, it's a cut that will keep paying out for a long long while. In related news - XNA is a piece of complete piss to work with. |
|
s0b |
10:01a | strange days - the tea road Driving through a shanty town. The buildings are on stilts and the traffic is diesel fuelled mayhem. The fixer made it! We flew in to a military airfield and parked up alongside Mig-29s. The road out was closed due to strike action so we hung out in the airport and ate chinese food and drank beer. The helicopter isn't flying so we're doing the 4 hour drive rather than the 30 minute flight. The upside is that I get to take photographs. The colours are incredible, the chaos even more so. There are elements of it that remind me of Africa, but the colours aren't African. Post from mobile portal m.livejournal.com |
| Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 | ||
|
elanya |
11:39p | Things to do tomorrow: gym post grades(?) 1-2 bags artifacts submit proposal Make dr's apt? Makeup test @4 Yuletide signups Current Mood:  sleepy |
|
elanya |
11:19p | Departmental funding application list! Things to email Cindy: signed and scanned application form [FIX AIRFARE TO MATCH DESCRIPTION - 2124] project description/budget Expedia quote Malcolm housing e-mail. I think that is all! Current Mood: sleepy |
|
amaena |
11:54p | Also! Lady Gaga ... is... fuck I just love her. Her music is not 100% awesome all the time, but dear god I love her everything else. Its just... ooooh boy! And man oh man did she get skinny for the recent vid! Sweet baby jesus... latex and mcqueen... fuck my life... *swoon* Katatonia posted a new album and I am still in love :D |
|
amaena |
11:49p | Classic Ever since icis_machine posted a weird techno version of the "No Sex Before Marriage" song... I have had this song in my head...Front 242 I <3 you forever! |
|
ladyiolanthe |
9:38p | Score! After Tai Chi tonight, I discovered that there were a whole lot of books up for grabs! The school recently had a book fair and these were leftover secondhand books which I was told are free for the taking. I grabbed a big stack: Non-Fiction: Blandford, Percy W. Maps & Compasses: A User's Handbook (I know how to use a compass but thought I'd see if he has any uses for them that I haven't done yet.) Fiction: Barker, Clive Clive Barker's Books of Blood Volume V Carmody, Isobelle Obernewtyn Hesse, Herman Siddhartha Horwood, William Duncton Wood (Figure I might as well give it a try!) Lawhead, Stephen R. Taliesin (Since my namesake was supposed to have given birth to him...) McCaffrey, Anne Dragondrums (I wish the first two Harper Hall books had been there, as well... :( ) Rhys, Jean Wide Sargasso Sea Stewart, Mary The Wicked Day Voltaire Candide Whyte, Jack Standard of Honor (Too bad it's book two of a trilogy...) The Eagle's Brook and The Saxon Shore The Skystone and The Singing Sword The Sorceror: The Fort at River's Bend and The Sorceror: Metamorphosis Not a bad haul, considering they were all free. :) I will give them a read and then pass along the ones not worth keeping. Current Mood:  pleased |
|
kobold |
9:44p | [WTF/Religion/Politics] Conservative Christians Openly Promoting Discrimination - WOO! A group of conservative Christians want Muslims barred from serving in the U.S. Military, all too excited to use the recent tragedy to promote their own hate of the "other guys." Yeah, that's a great idea. We should totally use the murderous few in a group as reasons to discriminate against the rest who've done nothing wrong. That won't bite Christians in the ass at all. Separation of Church and State, all men created equal, etc. (edit) I guess this is something moderate Christians and Muslims can use for a dialogue to get to know each other. "How I handle my religion's crazy assholes who need to shut up." |
| Wednesday, November 11th, 2009 | ||
|
s0b |
3:06a | Strange Days - morning 2 A strange transit to the domestic terminal through the fog. There is something utterly alien about jet planes in the mist, like they have landed in heaven. The coach had a wooden cockpit with a glass door separating the driver and half a dozen soldiers from the rest of us. Electric fans and live wires buzzed above our heads. No one spoke, until the Swedish girl in front started to squawk excitedly to her friends and then six dozen languages kicked in at once. In yet another club lounge - this one has mountain dew, which I find pretty damn exciting and curry for breakfast, which is even better. Adrian the fixer is not here. Last I heard he was still on the tarmac in Mumbai. There has been some sort of crash there. A couple of Kingfisher Air pilots bounced off each other or something. (Dear Reader, it will not surprise you to discover that my next flight is organised by Kingfisher air, will it?) Security here is very tight. We weren't even allowed into the terminal with e-tickets. In the end I bribed one of the ground staff to blag us in through the staff entrance. He got us in, checked in, and to the very front of the queue in under 10 minutes. There is too much noise and light in here to think about sleeping, but at least the armchairs are comfy and the drinks are free. So now there will be some waiting, and then some more waiting. If the fixer doesn't make it we're gonna be screwed for the next bit as we're due to fly into a military airbase on the edge of the restricted zone. Post from mobile portal m.livejournal.com |
|
s0b |
12:43a | strange days - day two Delhi, 6am. We touched down a little after 5am. It's confusingly GMT +5.5 so I guess it is a little after midnight back home. We have 5 hours to kill before our first connecting flight, but only 3 hours before we RDV with the local fixer. We landed to a morning mist so thick that the airport towers have searchlights that rotate like light houses. The ground crew were little more than shapes in the dawn mist. Getting off the plane, the first thing I noticed was the smell of woodsmoke. It hangs in the skyway and throughout the terminal building here as if the mist has got inside. I think for a minute that it might be insence, but if it is then it is woodsmoke scented and that seems rather pointless. I'm in that in-between world right now. I slept for a few hours on the plane, long enough to wake up with a hangover - not long enough to feel fully rested. The angles here seem wrong and the lights are slightly too bright like amphetamine sparkles. Christine is still at passport control; I sailed through like a diplomat but they're giving her a harder time. Or perhaps she just joined the wrong queue. People here push in. Blink and you'll miss your turn. I note that my Nepalese phrasebook won't be as useful for the next 6 hours as a Hindi one. (Thoughts are a little scattered - I'm struggling to give a cogent narrative) More to follow - for as long as the signal holds out Post from mobile portal m.livejournal.com |
|
raggedy_man |
12:03a | |
| Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 | ||
|
rumplefurskin |
6:20p | Is the Catholic Church a force for good in the world? Survey says no. BBC hosted (now on youtube) the Intelligence Squared public debate between two prominent British social commentators and a Catholic bishop and conservative Brit MP on the question above. Stephen Fry is particularly exciting to listen to. The debate is in 5 parts, 10 minutes each. Very worth listening to, from all speakers. |
|
raggedy_man |
10:37p | |
|
pinkapplejam |
9:49p | CRAFTY UPDATE OK chaps, on Saturday 5th December I will be exhibiting work at Handmade Cambridge at the Guildhall!! (It's up the road from the waffle shop XD) Everything pictured here has a link to the specific webpage or to a bigger image, click like the wind!!  Free entry! Check out their blog!! I will be sharing a table with bethany_eowynof Jezebelle's Boutique!  Some of the stuff I will be selling includes pics/items showcased on my website;  Some stuff will be completely new! Some, er, not! You may recognise these from Bump 'n' Grindhouse for example, lol!  These products are completely new!    I have hand-drawn characters on canvas tote-bags with some amazing pens by Deleter (NeoPiko 3's), they are washproof and permanent. I have added detail to each bag by sewing on recycled beads, sequins and diamantes. Lastly I have added highlights using a pearl fabric paint to help bring them out from the background. I've put the original sketch in each bag. I've kept these under wraps for a while but now is the time to drum up interest XD These canvas paintings are old (2004) But they will be for sale :)    Variants on these cat ears should also make the show ^^  Lastly I am selling 5 x Christmas Cards (A5!) for £3.50, envelopes included :)  Thanks for looking! Sorry I borked your friends page ^^'\ I'll post a reminder nearer the time, and If I think of anything else I'll be selling I'll post here in my journal :3 Cheers guys! ^^ |
|
longpig |
1:16p | pupdate I took back the expensive food Sierra hates today, and got a slightly bigger bag of another kind for 12 dollars less. Between that and exchanging the too-big collar for a smaller size, I was able to buy a floppy duck toy for Sierra and still come away with a little more than $5 in credit! The duck was an instant hit. I chose a toy without stuffing because of what elanya had mentioned about her dog destroying stuffed toys in instants - this one is supposed to hold up much longer (they say months, we shall see), and if she does wreck it, at least there won't be stuffing everywhere. She friggin' loves it. I haven't seen her so happy since we brought her home. If I squeak it with my foot and kick it a bit she will pounce on it, throw it up in the air, shake it, and generally do things she's not supposed to until her stitches are out. I let her play for a little while anyway before calming her down, and now she's flopped out in the hall next to it. So cute. And we have our first doggy smile! :3  ( Bonus pic of Sierra throttling the duck ) Current Mood:  chipper |
|
mousme |
1:05p | *grumblemutterCATS* George is walkabout. Has been since yesterday afternoon. I REFUSE to worry about him, you hear? REFUSE. Current Mood:  anxious |
|
warren_ellis |
11:02a | Scripts People often ask me what comics scripts look like — or, at least, what my comics scripts look like, as there is no industry standard for comics scriptwriting. I have a few scripts up here on the site, and you’re welcome to download them. I write in OpenOffice and save in RTF. Beginning writers may find it instructive to compare the scripts with the published work. (Please, don’t ask to be shown other scripts instead. These are the ones I have available. Okay?) (Yes, JONES will be back one day.) (And so will FELL.) (Automatically crossposted from warrenellis.com. Feel free to comment here or at my internet church at Whitechapel. If anything in this post looks weird, it's because LJ is run on steampipes and rubber bands -- please click through to the main site.) |
|
warren_ellis |
9:47a | At Whitechapel This Afternoon At my shithole today: * The MATT FRACTION Interrogation 2009 - comics writer Matt Fraction kindly taking questions from the proletariat * Warren’s Ancient Jukebox - fear * Warren’s Work FAQ (Revised Nov 2009) (Automatically crossposted from warrenellis.com. Feel free to comment here or at my internet church at Whitechapel. If anything in this post looks weird, it's because LJ is run on steampipes and rubber bands -- please click through to the main site.) |
|
humourcide |
3:12p | |
