Don't Shake the Flask

Because you don't know if it'll explode

Month: January, 2006

The Thursday Threesome: This Week’s and Last Week’s

eBay and PayPal

Onesome: eBay– Is eBay your first stop when looking for something? …or your last place to go when you cannot find it anywhere else? Do you even use it? …and hey, have you scored anything choice there lately?

I go to eBay very rarely and I haven’t bought anything there yet. I guess I’m sort of paranoid about putting money in and never getting anything back.

Twosome: and– while we’re at it: if you did your shopping online for Christmas, how did it go? Did things come in on time? Any significant failures? …and if you didn’t, will you consider trying online shopping sometime this year?

No.

Threesome: PayPal– Online shopping and services can be somewhat of an adventure; is PayPal your choice as a payment option or do you prefer another method. …or do you shop locally or not at all?

I don’t use PayPal.

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Please be Seated

Onesome: “Please– join us for a light dinner and some conversation.” If you were coordinating a group of say, the thirty or so regulars here, where would you like to have them meet in your area to be able to spend some time talking and eating?

Sure, if everyone lived nearby. Finding a place is the easy part. Coordinating a time which fits everyone’s schedules would be difficult.

Twosome: be– my Valentine? Yes, it’s early, but do you have ‘traditional” dinner plans for that holiday (or the time around it)? …or if you don’t, where would you like to go?

No. I consider Valentine’s Day like any other day. It’s only other people who use it as an excuse to buy flowers and candy and go out to eat. You can do that on other days of the year too. It’s not against the law to buy roses on Halloween…

Threesome: Seated– Hmmm… Table or booth? Do you have a preference when you go out to eat? Just wondering…

I like the booth because I have a “back against the wall” mentality. At least in the booth, you have the illusion that you’re not so exposed to the other diners.

Buggy Prepositions

What’s That Bug? They don’t offer extermination advice, but they do identify them. And there are definitely cool querent submitted pictures.

The Spidron is a planar figure consisting of two alternating sequences of isosceles triangles which, once it is folded along the edges, exhibits extraordinary spatial properties. The Spidron can be used to construct various space-filling polyhedra and reliefs, while its deformations render it suitable for the construction of finely adjustable dynamic structures.”

The Sky At Night. Watch the episodes of a BBC space program by Patrick Moore online!

* * *
Unconscious Mutterings

  1. Better off:: Than
  2. Girls:: And
  3. Uniform:: Boxes
  4. Classified:: Ads
  5. Hard:: Soft
  6. Kitty:: Cat
  7. Team:: Effort
  8. Massive:: Attack
  9. Depressed:: About
  10. Award:: For

Pay No Attention to the Mumbling

Recently, I’ve been re-reading Teresa Nielsen Hayden’s Making Light post Slushkiller. I know that on an intellectual level, I shouldn’t give up. I should keep submitting a story until I run out of (paying) markets. But damn it, it’s really discouraging, especially when I look on my list of already submitted markets and there are so many x’s.

Links and a Meme

Microscope Imaging Station. A very cool gallery with images and video of protozoa, cellular function, fruit flies, and more.

DNA 11 creates abstract art from a sample of your DNA.” First creating rings made out of your own bone and now this. Yep, now your own body is becoming a commercial fest.

Renaissance Festival Books. View 253 historical Renaissance books (digitized by the British Library) online.

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The Thursday Threesome: Hook ’em Horns!

Onesome: Hook– Just to get us back in the swing of things after the holidays: when you’re at home, where do your keys hang out, on a hook by the door? …or do they have a special place? …or do you find them wherever they landed the last time you walked in?

There’s a hook on a door. Which door and which hook, I won’t say.

Twosome: ’em– Do you use contractions like ” ’em ” in your daily conversations? …or do people use a contraction or phrase that particularly bugs you past the point of rationality?

I don’t pay much attention to my own speech, but I’ll say, probably not very often. I’m not bothered by other people using contractions.

Threesome: Horns– On the Horns of a dilemma: if you had only one movie you could nominate for the Academy Awards for 2005, which would it be? …and why? The screenplay? …the lead player(s)? …the setting?

I haven’t seen very many movies in 2005 so I’d pass on this.

Unconscious Mutterings

  1. Celebrate:: What
  2. Resolve: For
  3. I need to:: Do
  4. Call:: Who
  5. Token:: Toll
  6. Brand:: Name
  7. Comparison:: Shopping
  8. Far away:: Nowhere
  9. Artful:: Savant
  10. Fantastic:: Stories