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Aug. 22nd, 2011 10:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gwydion* There is fighting in Tripoli. There are varying contradictory reports about the whereabouts of Ghadafi's sons. Green Square has fallen to the rebels and they have renamed it Martyr Square. Ghadafi and Saif were still at liberty when I wrote this, but there is no guarantee that will still be the case when you read this. They are planning an assault on Ghaddahi's compound. The Libyan state TV station has been captured by opposition forces. It is unclear as to how much of Tripoli has been captured, and the fighting keeps moving. There is hope that the Opposition in Libya may prevail in the near future, as in any day. O.o Obama has promised to quickly unfreeze their assets as soon as they have secured Tripoli and established clear control. Fingers crossed, Folks. I'm all excited and weepy.
* The historian in me is all pleased by the mentions in the news of Berber troops riding down from the hills to cut off the western flank.
* There are already some reports of ugly shit happening to women in Libya, just as there have been in Egypt. To be clear it is just as wrong when it's Opposition forces as it was when it was systematic rape and abuse from government forces.
* Mitt Romney, while claiming to be a man of the people, is tearing down his $3 million dollar mansion to make way for an $11 million dollar mansion.
* Rick Perry is now alternately telling people to read his book, published nine months ago, and claiming he never said the things into it. Thus he is alternately claiming social security is unconstitutional and should be abolished and that he never said that, often a day or so apart. This means he is either lying or suffering from dementia. It seems to me either way, it's a reason not to vote for him. After all, a man who can't remember what he said yesterday or wrote less than a year ago, should not be trusted with the highest office in the country, nor should a man who is so busy lying his ass off he doesn't remember that they can just show the tape from several campaign stops within the last week to refute him. It also does not speak well of his intelligence that it doesn't occur to him that they can just do that on the evening news.
I understand why his platform of abolishing social security, medicare, medicaid, public education, and the income tax is wildly popular with the super rich, but why are so many middle and working class Americans supporting him? This genuinely baffles me, as it seems as about as contrary to their interests as can be, yet he's currently neck and neck with Obama in the polls.
* Poor Mr. Huntsman keeps speaking up for objective reality, a stance that makes him entirely unsuited for the Republican nomination for which he is running.
* Bad News Roundup: http://www.sparkindarkness.com/2011/08/bad-news-round-up.html
* Yesterday's oppressive mugginess broke today into a day of Autumn rains. I love Autumn, I love the rains. I endorse this.
* I had two doctor's appointment, swimming, nine errands, and three optional errands. I managed the doctors, the swimming, and eight errands. No thanks to traffic jabs all over town. My errand list for tomorrow is growing already. Today was the first day the pool was open after annual cleaning, so everything smelled like paint and solvents, rough on lungs that already hate the chlorine, but I did okay. I think the time off and the effort expended on unknotting that back spasm helped. The spasm is down to a pain level I can mostly ignore.
While I was doing my hot tub physio, a collection of boys came and sat in a row like crows on a telephone line legs dangling into the forbidden hot tub. To my teacher's eye, they looked to be a mixed assortment of 4th-6th graders. Old habit had me reading their facial expressions, body language, and interactions, the way I used to read a room of kids before class started. I saw three followers, and one likeable class clown. The little guy on the far end likely has a too strict father and will struggle with issues with authority all his life. He had the look of suppressed anger, of alternating rebellion and desire to be loved and accepted unconditionally, of the hole in the heart that can never be filled. He called me Sir. Kids like that break my heart even when I want to strangle them. At the far end was a kid who had not decided yet if he was going to be a bully or a good guy, poised at the edge of a perilous adolescence. Next to him was a classic instigator bully, who I watched like a hawk, again out of habit. He was luring the class clown and the undecided kid into trouble, but they seemed to be okay with the teasing, so I let it go. eventually, the inevitable life guard came and shooed them off.
I would pity any teacher who had all of them at once. Imagine how hard the seating chart would be to arrange, to keep them all mostly out of trouble and limit the damage to neighboring kids. One would have to hope they had the right sort of girls to keep the three most difficult in line. (There are plenty of girl bullies out there, but in upper elementary and middle school you can generally find some girls who are good at suppressing the uglier impulses of boy bullies. Harness that and you do about half the work on quashing boy bullying.) Pity the teacher so dumb as to put their chart alphabetical, as geography is a key tool of keeping the room under control. Luckily, this group was mixed aged enough that no one teacher would have to juggle them at once. Still, it amused me to work out an appropriate pod geography with them and a typical mix of girls in my head while I finished physio. In my imaginary classroom geography, I totally put the instigator bully right up front where I could keep an eye on him, just like I'm betting every real life teacher he'd had for years has done.
* I was pleased by how inclusive Poison Eaters was, but her novels generally are.
* It turned out I lack the last Midnighter book, but that will need to await more money, as will cat meds. I have vitamins again, and emergency money to carry me through the next week. I'd hoped to be further ahead this month, but at least I'm not behind.
* A bottle of Midway and one of Quincey Morris listed today ware already individually up to 51.00 on ebay. I love Midway and QM, but not 51.00 worth. O.o I just sealed a swap for a Count Dracula, which I love like I love QM. No way could i afford an ebay bottle ever, so that's a serious win.
* Speaking of ebay, I really need to do listings soon, but it's so hard to get motivated with all this other stuff going on here.
* I wish I could do this: http://xkcd-rss.livejournal.com/236092.html
* A sweet little October Daye Vignette: http://seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com/381607.html?style=mine#cutid1
* The historian in me is all pleased by the mentions in the news of Berber troops riding down from the hills to cut off the western flank.
* There are already some reports of ugly shit happening to women in Libya, just as there have been in Egypt. To be clear it is just as wrong when it's Opposition forces as it was when it was systematic rape and abuse from government forces.
* Mitt Romney, while claiming to be a man of the people, is tearing down his $3 million dollar mansion to make way for an $11 million dollar mansion.
* Rick Perry is now alternately telling people to read his book, published nine months ago, and claiming he never said the things into it. Thus he is alternately claiming social security is unconstitutional and should be abolished and that he never said that, often a day or so apart. This means he is either lying or suffering from dementia. It seems to me either way, it's a reason not to vote for him. After all, a man who can't remember what he said yesterday or wrote less than a year ago, should not be trusted with the highest office in the country, nor should a man who is so busy lying his ass off he doesn't remember that they can just show the tape from several campaign stops within the last week to refute him. It also does not speak well of his intelligence that it doesn't occur to him that they can just do that on the evening news.
I understand why his platform of abolishing social security, medicare, medicaid, public education, and the income tax is wildly popular with the super rich, but why are so many middle and working class Americans supporting him? This genuinely baffles me, as it seems as about as contrary to their interests as can be, yet he's currently neck and neck with Obama in the polls.
* Poor Mr. Huntsman keeps speaking up for objective reality, a stance that makes him entirely unsuited for the Republican nomination for which he is running.
* Bad News Roundup: http://www.sparkindarkness.com/2011/08/bad-news-round-up.html
* Yesterday's oppressive mugginess broke today into a day of Autumn rains. I love Autumn, I love the rains. I endorse this.
* I had two doctor's appointment, swimming, nine errands, and three optional errands. I managed the doctors, the swimming, and eight errands. No thanks to traffic jabs all over town. My errand list for tomorrow is growing already. Today was the first day the pool was open after annual cleaning, so everything smelled like paint and solvents, rough on lungs that already hate the chlorine, but I did okay. I think the time off and the effort expended on unknotting that back spasm helped. The spasm is down to a pain level I can mostly ignore.
While I was doing my hot tub physio, a collection of boys came and sat in a row like crows on a telephone line legs dangling into the forbidden hot tub. To my teacher's eye, they looked to be a mixed assortment of 4th-6th graders. Old habit had me reading their facial expressions, body language, and interactions, the way I used to read a room of kids before class started. I saw three followers, and one likeable class clown. The little guy on the far end likely has a too strict father and will struggle with issues with authority all his life. He had the look of suppressed anger, of alternating rebellion and desire to be loved and accepted unconditionally, of the hole in the heart that can never be filled. He called me Sir. Kids like that break my heart even when I want to strangle them. At the far end was a kid who had not decided yet if he was going to be a bully or a good guy, poised at the edge of a perilous adolescence. Next to him was a classic instigator bully, who I watched like a hawk, again out of habit. He was luring the class clown and the undecided kid into trouble, but they seemed to be okay with the teasing, so I let it go. eventually, the inevitable life guard came and shooed them off.
I would pity any teacher who had all of them at once. Imagine how hard the seating chart would be to arrange, to keep them all mostly out of trouble and limit the damage to neighboring kids. One would have to hope they had the right sort of girls to keep the three most difficult in line. (There are plenty of girl bullies out there, but in upper elementary and middle school you can generally find some girls who are good at suppressing the uglier impulses of boy bullies. Harness that and you do about half the work on quashing boy bullying.) Pity the teacher so dumb as to put their chart alphabetical, as geography is a key tool of keeping the room under control. Luckily, this group was mixed aged enough that no one teacher would have to juggle them at once. Still, it amused me to work out an appropriate pod geography with them and a typical mix of girls in my head while I finished physio. In my imaginary classroom geography, I totally put the instigator bully right up front where I could keep an eye on him, just like I'm betting every real life teacher he'd had for years has done.
* I was pleased by how inclusive Poison Eaters was, but her novels generally are.
* It turned out I lack the last Midnighter book, but that will need to await more money, as will cat meds. I have vitamins again, and emergency money to carry me through the next week. I'd hoped to be further ahead this month, but at least I'm not behind.
* A bottle of Midway and one of Quincey Morris listed today ware already individually up to 51.00 on ebay. I love Midway and QM, but not 51.00 worth. O.o I just sealed a swap for a Count Dracula, which I love like I love QM. No way could i afford an ebay bottle ever, so that's a serious win.
* Speaking of ebay, I really need to do listings soon, but it's so hard to get motivated with all this other stuff going on here.
* I wish I could do this: http://xkcd-rss.livejournal.com/236092.html
* A sweet little October Daye Vignette: http://seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com/381607.html?style=mine#cutid1