(no subject)

[gwydion]

* There has been a particularly gruesome mass shooting at a Newton, Connecticut Elementary school. 20 children, some as young as five were murdered, along with seven adults (including the principal, his mother, and the school psychologist). The murderer is also dead. Seriously, can we have a national conversation about gun control now and at least put the assault rifle/extended magazine ban back into place?

Fuck, the media is starting to blame the shooter's Asperger's. That's not going to be good, nor is it fair.

Meanwhile, Mike Huckabee is claiming that if we just forced children to pray in public schools it would magically stop adults from shooting children in schools. *side eye*

* The President on the shootings:

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

* "Calif. judge says victims' bodies can prevent rape:" http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57559152/calif-judge-says-victims-bodies-can-prevent-rape/

* "C-279 Update-Getting Filibustered By The Conservatives:" http://transgriot.blogspot.com/2012/12/c-279-update-getting-filibustered-by.html

* Photos of couples getting married in Seattle the first day it was legal. Bring tissues. Damn. http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/60-moments-that-gave-me-the-chills-during-seattle

* "National blind spots:" http://jaylake.livejournal.com/3030468.html

* On Justice Scalia, who "Clearly has no problem with straw men, long as their haystacks aren't touching..." http://shouldersofgiantmidgets.blogspot.com/2012/12/clearly-has-no-problem-with-straw-men.html

* Remember how I said I was getting better? I was wrong. It moved into my lungs. Between the coughing and the phone, my sleep was crappy and heavily disrupted. The good news is both insurance companies are taking responsibility for the rear endings and are chipping in to fix my car. Hopefully that will get sorted before the chittering rattle fatally distracts me. (It's going to involve removing the bumper, fixing and replacing various pieces that are bent and broken and thus not really doing their jobs. The left side brackets are what's holding the thing on. Sort of. Then they need to either paint or replace the bumper. I'm suspecting paint as the denting isn't that bad.) Sick or not, I really needed to hit the library and do the long loop. To my surprise, the librarian forgave my fines (caused by the whole not well enough to handle a library run thing.). It was a fair cop and I literally had the money out to pay. She was otherwise extremely helpful on top of that. The long loop was productive. Things got paid, I dropped off some equipment for Squirrel at the cable company, I also got cupcakes and a bunch of coupons for free stuff on the next long loop. It was rush hour, and that was nerve wracking for me (two rear endings at lights in three months). Every time we did the stop part of stop and go traffic, I eyed the mini van behind me in the rear view to see if they were stopping. I was mostly over it by the way back, though still wary of my fellow drivers. I don't do nervous well, so I expect it to wear off in a couple more errand runs. (I can technically feel fear and nervousness, but it's underdeveloped, hence my calm response to life threatening situations. On those occasions when I have nearly died the only emotion I can summon is a vague irritation at the inconvenience, and the after action wariness wears off quickly. A car accident that I could walk away from is unlikely to make a lasting impression). I really need to do housework and fish maintenance, but I'm still weak and tired and the coughing makes it hard to accomplish things.

* LM is really coming out of her shell lately. Not only is she more integrated with the clowder, but she's decided that I'm one of her humans instead of the scary emergency back up human. It means she's competing for evening mests with the others and wanting to take her turn on the first come first serve pettins mests in my office. I'm so proud of her. She's come such a long way socially since the move. Mache is not best pleased, this being cuddle season and she does not enjoy having to share me with an upstart. "Did you just pet her and call her 'Good Girl?' That's my name! Those are my pettins! Oh you did NOT just call her 'Sweetie!' I'm Sweetie! Pet me with both hands, damnit!"

* Loot count so far:

1. Six tee shirts from my sister including the glorious black death one
2. A check from deepseasiren
3. Vegan Marshmallows and BPAL from Tibicina.

* Mail for Indiana Jones turns up at UChicago: http://uchicagoadmissions.tumblr.com/post/37809971913/indiana-jones-mystery-package-we-dont-really

* 2162 notes on the Medieval thing. The really interesting commentary seems to be slowing down, though someone did bring up Chaucer today.

Comments

[big-wired.livejournal.com]

I sincerely hope that you're feeling better soon, dude.