piranha's tank

not your average, boring, old fencepost

pir_anha@livejournal.com — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 08:44:20 GMT

click to see larger versions.

so, the US house passed HR 3962, the affordable health care act for america, by 220:215. one republican, anh joseph cao, voted for it. i have a feeling he's going to be persona non grata among the GOP.

which i find endlessly amusing, because when he got elected in a heavily democratic district in lousiana, over his opponent who was under indictment, john boehner touted his win as "a symbol of our future" -- prophetic! cao has since said obama deserved an "A" for his first 100 days in office, voted for HR 2346 (supplemental appropriations), voted in favor of the resolution of disapproval toward SC rep joe wilson for his outburst against obama, voted for the hate crimes prevention act.

one of the few republicans for whom "bipartisanship" isn't just an empty phrase. it's good to occasionally see one of those in action.

HR 3962, pdf, 1990 pages.

this entry is crossposted from http://piranha.dreamwidth.org/509069.html. you can comment there using a dreamwidth account, your LJ (or any other) openID, or even as anonymous (please sign). there are currently comments.

so much for "loving thy neighbor"

pir_anha@livejournal.com — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 02:43:53 GMT

i learned something new today. washington DC has as part of its legal code a provision that prohibits any referendum that would have the effect of authorizing discrimination against DC residents on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender.

that is awesome.

and fortunate. because the forces of bigotry, hiding behind another "marriage initiative", are busy trying to work against same-sex mariage in DC, since there is clear movement towards recognizing it in the district.

the arguments are... i know i said i'll try to no longer use words like "stupid" as an insult, but what else is it if a christian quotes pontius pilate: "let the people decide". good grief! does this person not know what those people voted on? "stupid" doesn't even cover it.

read this report from a hearing in DC; the unintentional irony can be shoveled with gigantic trowels. what can you say to such people? they don't even know their own religion, their own history, the meaning of words they use:

Another woman patiently explained to me that the 60-odd people who testified against equal rights for gay people [...] did not hate gay people. They just feared gay people, she said. They were not homophobic.

this entry is crossposted from http://piranha.dreamwidth.org/508636.html. you can comment there using a dreamwidth account, your LJ (or any other) openID, or even as anonymous (please sign). there are currently comments.

spots!

pir_anha@livejournal.com — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 09:24:40 GMT

you can now click on the images to see a larger version!

i have no idea what this plant is, but i shall endeavour to find out. it was nothing special during the summer, but now it is changing colours and those dots have appeared on the leaves, which are just gorgeous.

i've moved the first images to smugmug, where i've registered a trial account. i looked at a lot of photo hosting sites, and the organization and features there sound like they'll suit me best. it requires a minimum of effort to set up pricing, and the quality seems to be good (i have samples on order), so i should be up and ready quickly so people who want to can actually order prints (and cards, posters, tshirts [1], mugs, calendars, etc).

[1] the sizing here isn't friendly to us larger people, so i'll have to set up a separate account for this elsewhere, or impress upon the smugmug people that large bodies want nice tshirts too.

this entry is crossposted from http://piranha.dreamwidth.org/508223.html. you can comment there using a dreamwidth account, your LJ (or any other) openID, or even as anonymous (please sign). there are currently comments.

yeah, universal heath care is of the devil

pir_anha@livejournal.com — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 21:05:01 GMT

those of us who have it hate it! or not. instead we seem to actually be fairly realistic about its benefits and shortcomings.

canadians overwhelmingly support universal health care; think obama is on right track in US. (pdf from nanos research.)

The survey found that nine in ten Canadians support universal health care (90% support or somewhat support), and seven out of ten Canadians believe that President Barack Obama is on the right track with respect to health care in the US (71%). Results were consistent across regions.

When asked what they believed was the key strength of the current Canadian health care system, six in ten said, unprompted, it was accessibility and universality (61%). The key weakness identified, unprompted, was wait times (33%), a more than two-to-one margin over the next most cited weakness - a shortage of doctors and nurses (14%).

When asked to look south of the border to the US, the majority of Canadians felt that President Obama was on the right track when it came to making changes to the health care system in the United States (71%) with only seven percent saying he was on the wrong track. One in five were unsure (21%). Quebecers were comparatively more likely to say Obama was on the right track (82%), followed by Ontarians (74% right track).

i should add that the wait times are for non-urgent care problems. the paramour's mother waited too long (in my book) for a hip replacement. but when i had life-threatening high blood pressure and tachycardia, i was immediately seen at the ER, ushered past a waiting room with other people. i've also always been able to see my GP when i needed to. and all that costs a mere C$54/month for british columbians (and if you can't afford that there is help); nobody is dependent on an employer offering health insurance and spousal/dependent benefits; if you lose your job in a bad economy, you don't also lose your health care (i find that incredibly frightening).

having lived under both type of systems, i greatly prefer universal, single-payer health care. and i don't at all mind paying taxes to support such care for people who have less than i do. i like living in a society that cares about all its members, whether they're currently fortunate and able-bodied or not.

this entry is crossposted from http://piranha.dreamwidth.org/507831.html. you can comment there using a dreamwidth account, your LJ (or any other) openID, or even as anonymous (please sign).

signal boost

pir_anha@livejournal.com — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:01:00 GMT

on offer: a personal scholarship for a person of colour to attend ICFA #31 (International Conference on the Fantastic)

http://supergee.livejournal.com/1969375.html

this entry is crossposted from http://piranha.dreamwidth.org/507617.html. you can comment there using a dreamwidth account, your LJ (or any other) openID, or even as anonymous (please sign).

once a fender, glossy white

pir_anha@livejournal.com — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:09:07 GMT

copying all my images down from LJ's scrapbook in preparation for transferring them to another photo hosting site, which i haven't decided on yet. now that i am looking closely at scrapbook's organization, that won't be easy nor fun. i also don't see any way right now to mass-edit all the old posts, and i am sure not looking forward to manually doing it with 600+ of them.

we can't import to DW yet from data we've first exported and edited offline, can we? i've not been paying close attention to new features lately, but i didn't think that one is even on the horizon.

oh man, this will suck.

but it won't suck as hard as the republicans. arseholes are girding up to fuck with gay marriage in new hampshire too now. i am so angry, i am feeling violent. not like i am actually gonna do anything violent, but i am wishing violence on those people. if i were god, i'd be doing some burning bush appearances. maybe also some gentle smiting.

and even vengeful, i'd still be a better god than theirs.

this entry is crossposted from http://piranha.dreamwidth.org/507370.html. you can comment there using a dreamwidth account, your LJ (or any other) openID, or even as anonymous (please sign).

triptych of suspicion

pir_anha@livejournal.com — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:47:32 GMT

clicking on the image gets you a larger version.

i got lots done today; good day. real artist acrylics are beautiful; so saturated. i've never worked with such lovely paints before.

vincent is deigning to let me pet him again; apparently i am finally forgiven for the flea treatment. little does he know what is yet to come. *sigh*. i wish we could communicate better with animals.

though i guess "we're gonna have the vet pull all your teeth and chop off your balls" wouldn't go over real well in any case.

this entry is crossposted from http://piranha.dreamwidth.org/506754.html. you can comment there using a dreamwidth account, your LJ (or any other) openID, or even as anonymous (please sign).

rainy purple sadness

pir_anha@livejournal.com — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 06:59:19 GMT

civil rights should not be put to a popular vote. i'm supposed to become more conservative as i grow older, but it's not happening. i see less and less in today's conservative movements that is the least attractive to me; heck, i am not seeing much to recommend in liberals when they are in power either anymore. they're better than conservatives, sure, but still so far from what i'd consider actually good. i might well end up an anarchist, *sigh*. when i was in college, i thought anarchists were too cynical...

i'm looking at you, maine. WTF, you voted FOR pot and against gay marriage? what are you smoking there?

at least washington state seems on the right path, though they're not done counting yet.

and hurrah for kalamazoo, michigan, for passing ordinance 1856, prohibiting discrimination against glbt persons in housing, employment and public accommodations. 62 to 38%!

it just bothers me to no end that so many people in the US are perfectly willing to deny others the same rights they enjoy. i can't be calm about it anymore; it is so very wrong.

this entry is crossposted from http://piranha.dreamwidth.org/506045.html. you can comment there using a dreamwidth account, your LJ (or any other) openID, or even as anonymous (please sign).

dear canada: just say no to ACTA

pir_anha@livejournal.com — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:46:57 GMT

ACTA = Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement

we need a global DMCA like we need a hole in the head. we also don't need to make ISPs responsible for their users' copyright violations, and for sure we don't need service providers to proactively police for them -- that'll just about close down sites like youtube and flickr; nevermind blogger, livejournal, and dreamwidth.

dear white house: transparency? you promised, didn't you?

what's with the freaking secrecy about the copyright treaty then? how is this in any way a national security issue?

or are you just trying to hide what an execrable piece of shite this is for anyone but the RIAA, MPAA and large corporations jealously guarding their copyright way beyond what copyright law was ever intended to do? anti-counterfeiting? where are china and russia in these talks? no, this is instead pushing copyright even further than you've already pushed it.

- michael geist has info on ACTA.
- IDG news service has some more.
- so does numerama (in french)
- the EFF chimes in.
- and lawfont in australia.
- needless to say, cory doctorow is unhappy.

this entry is crossposted from http://piranha.dreamwidth.org/505769.html. you can comment there using a dreamwidth account, your LJ (or any other) openID, or even as anonymous (please sign).

how not to defend yourself

pir_anha@livejournal.com — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 23:55:19 GMT

david edelstein's review of the movie precious got sniped at by the folks at jezebel.

so now he defends himself, because he, david edelstein, isn't racist or sizeist, noooo:

"I’ve had weight issues all my life. My mother, an M.D., once treated obesity (or tried like hell) and in filling in for her receptionist in my late teens I saw what women in the African-American community with a certain body type and metabolism were up against — especially since they were surrounded by crap food"

*sigh*. that really needs no further commentary, does it.

he makes the entire movie, in which the protagonist's size is merely one aspect of her (and not the one causing her the most trouble by any stretch of the imagination), about her damn weight:

"In the context of movies, her image is a shock; it throws you violently outside your normal frame of reference, forcing you to rethink your assumptions."

"your" assumptions? not mine! not those of anyone who's fat!

"Here is an obese, black-skinned (as opposed to latte-colored), pregnant, illiterate, poor girl: She has everything against her. And Daniels, like Sapphire, continues to pile on the abuses. She is sexually assaulted by both parents. She is beaten into unconsciousness with a cast-iron pan. She is kicked in the face giving birth. She is expelled from school for being pregnant — not even her fault but the result of her father’s rape. She has AIDS."

the movie isn't about her weight! if one sees her weight as "front and center" as he does, that speaks only about one's sizeist prejudice.

i haven't seen the movie, and from what i've read it's too damn depressing for me to see it -- and it smells just a wee bit of "human suffering" porn, which i generally avoid because i am damn well aware of human suffering and don't need it poured over me in gallons. i can't speak to edelstein's racist prejudices. but his sizeist ones are well in evidence, highlighted by his very defense.

this entry is crossposted from http://piranha.dreamwidth.org/505346.html. you can comment there using a dreamwidth account, your LJ (or any other) openID, or even as anonymous (please sign).

arRUUUgula

pir_anha@livejournal.com — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 07:39:43 GMT

i grow a lot of it for salad. the flowers are yummy, too.

dropped the mac mini off at the new mac store downtown, and for C$50 they're gonna look at it tomorrow.

bought new flannel sheets and a microplush blanket for the paramour. oh, so soft! i wholeheartedly support the recent microfibre boom (at least until i find out how ecologically unsound its manufacture is, in case somebody wants to share their knowledge with me).

this entry is crossposted from http://piranha.dreamwidth.org/504838.html. you can comment there using a dreamwidth account, your LJ (or any other) openID, or even as anonymous (please sign).

lost keys

pir_anha@livejournal.com — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 08:19:00 GMT

vincent is not happy with me. either it was the flea treatment or the application of his new last name that scared him off.

the latter is mostly the paramour's fault: vincent van d'oh.

this entry is crossposted from http://piranha.dreamwidth.org/504825.html. you can comment there using a dreamwidth account, your LJ (or any other) openID, or even as anonymous (please sign).

scarlet messenger

pir_anha@livejournal.com — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 07:04:09 GMT

thanks to synecdochic i have lots of new subscribers. welcome! i hope you enjoy the photos. feel free to leave comments (even critical ones); i am always interested what people think about when they see them.

and since we now have a "follow friday" here on dreamwidth, allow me to point y'all at deepad who writes very thoughtful and thought-provoking essays on race and culture.

this entry is crossposted from http://piranha.dreamwidth.org/503514.html. you can comment there using a dreamwidth account, your LJ (or any other) openID, or even as anonymous (please sign).

dropjes

pir_anha@livejournal.com — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 05:04:40 GMT

i am cold. working on crocheting motifs for a jacket.

this entry is crossposted from http://piranha.dreamwidth.org/502555.html. you can comment there using a dreamwidth account, your LJ (or any other) openID, or even as anonymous (please sign).

grey shetland singles

pir_anha@livejournal.com — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 02:30:03 GMT

below is a sample of the wool, above the 2 bobbins. i'm quite pleased with how the singles came out; it's not hideous for a first effort. i ended up using mostly a modified longdraw. the prep wasn't right for an actual one, i had to keep more control over the twist because the fibre release from the draft wasn't always even. but drawing long was generally much faster and also smoother, and it gave me lots of room in which to smooth out occasional blobby bits. it'll be thick-n-thin in places (beyond beginner's accidents), because i was purposefully trying to spin as thin as possible at times, and later also to spin specific thicknesses.

i really like the variegation of the wool; it goes from a very light grey to a very dark one. i bought about a pound and a half; wonder how much yarn that's gonna make.

and now i learn to ply.

this entry is crossposted from http://piranha.dreamwidth.org/502210.html. you can comment there using a dreamwidth account, your LJ (or any other) openID, or even as anonymous (please sign).

the naming

pir_anha@livejournal.com — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 19:42:39 GMT

#8 cat is now "vincent".

thanks to saoba and semperfiona. normally i just wait until some name comes to me ("the cat names zirself"), but this was too perfect to pass up.

thank you!

this entry is crossposted from http://piranha.dreamwidth.org/501919.html. you can comment there using a dreamwidth account, your LJ (or any other) openID, or even as anonymous (please sign).

enjoy it while it lasts

pir_anha@livejournal.com — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 05:21:08 GMT

this entry is crossposted from http://piranha.dreamwidth.org/501309.html. you can comment there using a dreamwidth account, your LJ (or any other) openID, or even as anonymous (please sign).

#8 cat

pir_anha@livejournal.com — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 04:04:14 GMT

once he trusted me enough to let me touch him, i knew it wasn't gonna be long before he'd move in, but #8 is quite intrepid as it turns out, and now follows me anywhere, even when scared. it's kinda endearing, but i know my place; i am The Purveyor of Food. though he does like the petting too; he even occasionally interrupts the eating to butt his head into my leg.

i am amused. bacchus is not. two new cats in his house! but he's remarkably peaceful with both the new toms. just the way he walks around and casts glances shows that he's enormously put out. i am petting him a lot. and i'm gonna build a cat tower; we need more places for cats to settle on. shadow dug up my grey shetland roving yesterday (which is in a bag); luckily i discovered her kneading it before she had felted the lot.

#8 looks in better shape in this picture than he is; he's basically skin and bones. he turns his face away when i try to look into his mouth, but i expect what i'll find once i get to see is not very many teeth, and quite possibly some badly infected ones. his fur is matted in several places, and his tail looks ratty, but today he is cleaning himself, so getting some food which he could eat easily into him was probably the main thing needed. he doesn't seem to have any fresh injuries; the missing ear healed before we saw him for the first time.

guess he needs a name now. the paramour doesn't like "ear". don't understand why not.

this entry is crossposted from http://piranha.dreamwidth.org/500826.html. you can comment there using a dreamwidth account, your LJ (or any other) openID, or even as anonymous (please sign).

ebook haul

pir_anha@livejournal.com — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 03:20:37 GMT

Bryce LE	Nightingale
King M	The Golden Horse
Llewellyn AJ & Manly DJ	Blood Eclipse 2 - Rapture
Massa JJ & Snow Alexa & Jones Jenna	Anthology - Going to the Chapel
Owen Chris	Used, Rare, and Custom Jobs 1 - Bid
Owen Chris	Used, Rare, and Custom Jobs 2 - Proposal
Owen Chris	Used, Rare, and Custom Jobs 3 - Tender Awarded
Price Jordan Castillo	Sweet Oblivion 4 - Swarm

this entry is crossposted from http://piranha.dreamwidth.org/500709.html. you can comment there using a dreamwidth account, your LJ (or any other) openID, or even as anonymous (please sign).

chronicle of a beginning spinner

pir_anha@livejournal.com — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 02:15:26 GMT

oh yeah, this spinning thing suits me. it's very zen. well, theoretically it's very zen; that is, i can feel how it will become so. most of the time i am still too tense, but i can feel it for moments. i am doing much better with the grey shetland i bought at the cowichan fleece and fibre fair than i did with the nice, commercial top that came with the wheel. i just couldn't draft that properly until i started doing it from the fold; then it was, wow, so much easier.

however, spinning from the fold seems sort of a waste when one has long staple, because one folds that in half. but otherwise i guess i have to separate the roving even more than i did, and predraft the heck out of it. i also think that i need to do a longdraw with that fibre.

the grey shetland is very fluffy and lofty, and while it has lots of little noils, i am actually managing to mostly control the thickness of the single otherwise. i seem to tend towards spinning very thin, and today i practiced to get a little thicker single instead. my twist is really good, too; it's not been as hideously overtwisted as before anymore.

i'm sitting further back as well. i didn't start out real close to the orifice anyway, because it makes sense to be back some so i have more length of yarn to control before it goes onto the bobbin. but i'm now about half a metre back, and that gives me a lot of opportunity to smooth bits out that were a bit too thin, and i am still close enough to be able to see.

i'm basically spinning in some unholy mixture of worsted and longdraw, *snicker*. inchworm didn't work well for me at all; the yarn was very uneven. i might've had too much roving in my hand. in any case worsted technique works for me, from the fold works for me, and i can feel longdraw happening as well. i'm happy with my progress.

if you have no idea what i am talking about, but want to: here's a great page with short videos introducing basic techniques.

this entry is crossposted from http://piranha.dreamwidth.org/500240.html. you can comment there using a dreamwidth account, your LJ (or any other) openID, or even as anonymous (please sign).

displaced

pir_anha@livejournal.com — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 05:37:13 GMT

this entry is crossposted from http://piranha.dreamwidth.org/499841.html. you can comment there using a dreamwidth account, your LJ (or any other) openID, or even as anonymous (please sign).

we might not have the colour of the east coast

pir_anha@livejournal.com — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 02:45:44 GMT

but our maples still put on a good show.

i went to the cowichan fleece and fibre fair today. it was lovely; more stuff than i had expected. there were remarkably many people with ravelry stickers (provided at the door), but i was shy. did talk with a happy, chatty woman whose handle i recognized from the van isle fibre lovers while waiting in line. had a long, fun conversation with a woman who raises shetland sheep (i am convinced this is where i might be headed, or maybe in an alternate universe). also talked with an older lady who just took a course from pluckyfluff (i wish i had known she was coming to quadra island) -- she was fun; making yarn from all sorts of clothing. also talked with alison irwin, a weaver, who let me try her inkle loom -- that shouldn't be hard to build. but what i really drooled over was her small "structo" tabletop 4-shaft loom. she was really interesting; very quickly realized she could talk tech to me, which was extra enjoyable -- i'd love to take a workshop from somebody like her. expressed my pissed-offness at VANOC and the bay towards the women with the cowichan knitwear, and bought a scarf in solidarity. might go to the protest on the 31st.

wow, that was a lot of talking. no wonder i am so worn out.

watched people spin. everyone does it differently. that's reassuring.

i also bought some fibre, *grin*. 1.5 lbs variegated grey shetland at a super price, a little lumpy, which, strangely enough, i am doing better spinning than i did with the lovely soft commercial top the woolery sent me with my wheel (it hates me). i can spin the grey shetland amazingly fine (for me), and the tiny lumps (i am not making these; they are in the wool) give it character. the rest of what i bought is all top drawer: bamboo, ramie, beige and dark brown alpaca, merino top, seacell. i didn't buy any of the lovely blends; i want to try all the raw, pure stuff first.

this entry is crossposted from http://piranha.dreamwidth.org/499440.html. you can comment there using a dreamwidth account, your LJ (or any other) openID, or even as anonymous (please sign).

it has arrived!

pir_anha@livejournal.com — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 23:56:47 GMT

my babe's fiber garden spinning wheel. (with bonus cat, bang! who wandered into the shot.)

i'm so excited!!!

i have no time to post more about it, because i want to spin some yarn!

this entry is crossposted from http://piranha.dreamwidth.org/498252.html. you can comment there using a dreamwidth account, your LJ (or any other) openID, or even as anonymous (please sign).

happy birthday

pir_anha@livejournal.com — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 11:23:07 GMT

to ursula k. le guin, one of my favourite and most thought-provoking writers of all time.

this entry is crossposted from http://piranha.dreamwidth.org/497976.html. you can comment there using a dreamwidth account, your LJ (or any other) openID, or even as anonymous (please sign).

ebook purchase

pir_anha@livejournal.com — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 08:06:27 GMT

*gah*, i was gonna post these weekly, but have really fallen down on the job.

Beecroft Alex	Captain's Surrender
el-Hajjar Melissa	Bane of Existence
Field Ryan	When Harry Met Sal
Katz Ali	The Highwayman
Lane Thom	Tales of Amaranth 2 - Healing Heart
Lorenz Lynn	Best Vacation that Never Was
Lygon Jay	The Harem Boy
Manly D J	Diamond In The Shade
Manly D J	Higher Learning
Okati Willa	Screen Shots: Smolder
Potts C B	Recovery 2 - Recovery Ranch
Riley A M	Immortality Is the Suck
Stevens Cassie	Tangled Web

oh, and one non-m/m book. an old acquaintance has a new harlequin romance out, and hers are the only harlequins i ever buy: Kistler Julie - Scandal. yay, julie! i wish she wrote m/m, *grin*.

this entry is crossposted from http://piranha.dreamwidth.org/497614.html. you can comment there using a dreamwidth account, your LJ (or any other) openID, or even as anonymous (please sign).