hermionesviolin: (self)
[personal profile] hermionesviolin
I wrested two giant staples out of the DeathStar Stapler this morning.  I feel I fulfilled my butch cred quota for the day.

I was in the mood for pasta at lunch, but it is risotto this week.  However, the GlobalVegetarian was Greek, so I got spanikopita (and other stuff), which was exciting -- and more filling than I was expecting (I worried I hadn't gotten enough food, but I ended up not actually finishing all of it until later in the afternoon).

Supposedly it was like 71F when I left work.  Regardless, it felt warmer than I was expecting and also warmer than I really wanted it to be.  As I approached Teele Square, it started sprinkling rain a little bit.  \o/
A little after six I was sitting in front of my computer and could smell that rain-on-ground smell, and I looked over and indeed there was all this rain on my windowpane.  I was a little worried I would get soaked on my way to the MFA (I like the rain, but having to sit somewhere being soggy is not fun), but it was just barely sprinkling when I left again a little before 7 and was sunny, so it had that sort of summer feel that I like.  Waiting for the Green Line around 10, it barely started to sprinkle again, and walking home it was sprinkling a little harder and I actually ran part of the way just 'cause I felt like it.

I (finally) finished reading last week's Economist -- and then started on this week's.

***

elliptical, interval program:
1mi @ 11:36min
2mi @ 23:19min
2.55mi @ 30min

On CNN's This American Morning, they had the electoral map from 2004 and talked about which states might flip given an Obama v. McCain contest, which was interesting.  Hey look, a Wikipedia entry on swing states.

They also talked about Democratic fears that fears that Obama v. McCain will be like unto McGovern v. Nixon.  They quoted from a Chicago Tribune piece: "He [Nixon] turned McGovern's pledge for peace into a prescription for disaster, charging that McGovern was a defeatist, unpatriotic, would forfeit for naught the tens of thousands of lives already lost and create unmitigated havoc in Southeast Asia."

The parallels to the Democrats' position on Iraq seemed obvious to me (On Monday, via InstaPundit I read a blogger saying, "Here, in two paragraphs, is why I will be voting for McCain this November" -- citing an Iraq section of McCain's May 16 speech to the NRA in which he talks about the perils of withdrawing from Iraq prematurely.) so I was surprised to hear Gary Hart arguing that no that comparison doesn't work at all.

Gary Hart argued that 2/3 of the country think we should get out of Iraq, so this is a very different situation than Vietnam in 1972 with a deeply divided country.  (I was extra-amused by this because practically from the beginning Democrats were warning that Iraq would turn into another Vietnam quagmire.)  I hadn't realized the percentage was that high, though this week's Economist says, "America has grown weary of foreign entanglements (60% of Americans think that the Iraq war was a mistake, for example)" [hi, I am annoyed that it doesn't cite any specific poll... I assume this is to be interpreted that there have been a number of reputable polls and they all come up with approximately that number].

***

Last night, mjules linked me to an AP article on U.S. paper currency and the blind -- which also got talked about on CNN This American Morning.
While the government has been fighting to overturn the lower court ruling, it has been taking some steps toward modifying U.S. currency for the visually impaired. The most recent currency redesign of the $5 bill introduced in March features a giant "5" printed in purple on one side of the bill to help those with vision problems distinguish the bill.

Indeed, Treasury has previously considered making different sizes of bills but ran into opposition from makers of vending and change machines. Government lawyers raised this issue in court, saying it could cost billions to redesign vending machines. But the court said such data are murky, especially since one proposed solution would be to leave $1 bills unchanged.
***

[livejournal.com profile] monkeycrackmary linked to scans_daily post for Robin #174.  zomg!  I really haven't been following this issue 'cause it's not my fandom at all, but I know enough of the background.

***

Another round of Things You Might Not Know About LJ But Should:

The Date Out of Order function.
You don't need to actually change the date, just click "Date out of order" and it won't show up on anybody's flist, but it'll show up on the main page of that journal.

Who can create polls.
# Paid, Plus and Permanent Users: You can create polls in your own journal and any communities (whether Basic or Paid) where you have posting access.
# Basic Users: You can only vote in polls, with one exception. If you maintain a Paid or Permanent community, you can post polls in that community.

Date: 2008-05-22 04:27 am (UTC)
ext_2353: amanda tapping, chris judge, end of an era (dcu crisis)
From: [identity profile] scrollgirl.livejournal.com
Thanks for linking to the s_d post! I'm not a member any more, but that issue is still one that pushes buttons at times. Very glad to see that the editors are at least taking a stab at making amends, even though I don't believe they've had a real change of heart. Whatever. I'm glad to get something out of this.

Date: 2008-05-22 03:04 pm (UTC)
ext_2351: (Default)
From: [identity profile] lunabee34.livejournal.com
Lorraine, her ignorance benefiting all since 2005 LOL

:) <3

butch cred

Date: 2008-05-22 06:03 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] onwingsofeagles.livejournal.com
I was thinking there's a broader word than "butch" for doing hard things. And was reminded that when you were wee, Aunt Marian reminded your grandparents to include "tough" in the words describing you. That we wanted you to believe you were tough as well as adorable. I certainly don't think you are a hard person, but tough enough.

Re: butch cred

Date: 2008-05-22 07:25 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] hermionesviolin.livejournal.com
Yeah, mostly I just like joking about being butch. I do like the word "tough" -- which I hadn't thought of before, though in this case I was thinking about mechanical skill, for which that term suits less -- and mad hearts to Aunt Marian for that insistence.

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hermionesviolin: an image of Alyson Hannigan (who plays Willow Rosenberg) with animated text "you think you know / what you are / what's to come / you haven't even / BEGUN" (Default)
Elizabeth (the delinquent, ecumenical)

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