MadHacktress' LiveJournal Blog

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 03:57:51 GMT

loves Buzz Aldrin! bit.ly/JCpwH
needs to make a green Twitter icon... because, y'know, I really do support Iran.

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 03:57:53 GMT

would rather be Sims 3-ing... Simming 3... hmmm... neither one seems quite right. Terry would rather be playing Sims 3.
played with electricity this morning and didn't blow up! WIN!
hears thunder in the distance... damn... now it's decision time... stop playing The Sims, or not?

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 03:57:59 GMT

is... warm. Quelle shocque?

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 03:57:56 GMT

seems to have lost those last pesky 180lbs this morning... ah, that feels better.

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 03:58:41 GMT

remains undeterred by the ravings of small minds. The housework shall go on.

Wed, 06 May 2009 03:58:36 GMT

needs to get back in the groove.

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 03:58:25 GMT

feels done.
is a fucking loser hypocrit. Who claims to advocate against hate but won't fight against those who perpetrate it?

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 03:58:16 GMT

is heading to the Island.
has recorded VEDA 15, but won't be able to upload it until tomorrow. All fail. :(

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 03:58:09 GMT

is outta here... I'll be back when she's gone.

BEDA 11 - One Artist Meme

Sat, 11 Apr 2009 10:39:12 GMT

Using only song titles from ONE ARTIST, cleverly answer these questions. Try not to repeat a song title. It’s harder than you think.

Pick Your Artist: Reba McEntire (the only artist for whom I know multiple song titles (and even with her, I’m totally going to cheat)).

Are you male or female: I’m A Survivor
Describe yourself: Little Rock (as in I’m here for my friends when they need me)
How do you feel about yourself: New Fool At An Old Game
Describe where you currently live: Five Hundred Miles Away From Home
If you could go anywhere, where would you go: Whoever’s In New England (to see Purple Primate)
Your favourite form of transportation: Sweet Dreams (imagination is the best form of transportation)
Your best friend is: Sweet Music Man (Paul, very musically inclined)
Your favourite colour is: Lighter Shade of Blue
What’s the weather like: The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia
Favorite time of day: Night Life
If your life was a tv show, what would it be called: Starting Over Again
What is life to you: What If?
What is the best advice you have to give: Walk On; Climb That High Mountain (take your pick)
If you could change your name, what would it be: Fancy
Your favourite food is: It’s Your Call (that is, pizza delivery)
Thought for the Day: Love Will Find Its Way To You
How I would like to die: Talking In Your Sleep
My soul’s present condition: I Wish That I Could Tell You (that’s an actual title)
The faults I can bear: If I Had Only Known
My motto: One Honest Heart

Originally published at MadHacktress' Blog. Please leave any comments there.

VEDA 10 - Good Friday

Sat, 11 Apr 2009 06:43:04 GMT

It’s Good Friday, although I’m not entirely sure why it’s called that. After all it’s supposed to be the day on which Jesus was crucified. Not really a good Friday for him. Although I remember, as a child, hearing the day called Holy Friday, which I think is perhaps a better term for the day.

I’ll contact the calendar people for next year.

More confusing than the name of Good Friday is calculating the day: which is held on the Friday before Easter, which is the first Sunday after the Paschal full moon.

Except that it’s not.

The Paschal full moon is first full moon after the Vernal Equinox (sort of, keep reading), therefore the first full moon of spring. However the church has fixed the first day of spring to March 21st, irrespective of the actually natural occurrence of the equinox. Also, the Paschal full moon is an ecclesiastical event, not a natural event, so the Paschal full moon is actually the 14th day of the lunar calendar corresponding to the first full moon of spring, which means that it could actually occur a day or two off the actually full moon.

Thankfully we don’t have to calculate this all ourselves. Otherwise there would be Easter happening all over the place.

I can only eat so many bunny ears.

Originally published at MadHacktress' Blog. Please leave any comments there.

VEDA 09 - Mobile Blogging

Sat, 11 Apr 2009 06:28:04 GMT

this update is coming from my phone.

i don’t even know if this will work or not.

i thought that VEDA would be a good time to test it to see if I can actually make this work.

nothing much exciting going on today, except that on the vloggersoftheweek channel on youtube mimi, our thursday, uploaded a video, which is awesome because it’s been a while since we heard from her.

EDIT: Sadly this only saved as a draft and not a published entry. :(

Originally published at MadHacktress' Blog. Please leave any comments there.

Sat, 11 Apr 2009 03:57:22 GMT

is catching up on YouTube subs.
is caught up on YouTube... for now.

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 03:57:27 GMT

pwns.

BEDA 08 - Deadliest Blog

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 04:42:37 GMT

I’ve spent the evening - at least the post-Lost portion of the evening - enrapt by a Deadliest Catch marathon. I love this show and this marathon is starting from Season One and going onward. I may never sleep.

That is all.

Until we meet again.

Originally published at MadHacktress' Blog. Please leave any comments there.

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 03:58:58 GMT

is home.
is half-psyched and half-freaked about the idea of today's VEDA.
is LOLing at Facebook status wars.

BEDA 07 - STS-125

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 03:58:54 GMT

We’re just under a month away from the launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis for the final servicing mission of the Hubble Space Telescope. I find myself very impatiently awaiting this launch which is set to take place on May 12th.

I have long held that one of NASA’s greatest successes was putting Hubble in orbit. I don’t mean that it is the greatest instrument NASA has built, because it’s not. However, the pictures - the real visible light images - from the HST have given the public a really clear picture of just what NASA is looking at. Not since the words “one small step” has NASA had something so popularly branded in the public eye. Who can’t imagine in their mind’s eye the pictures of the gas pillars of the Eagle Nebula?

I was pleased when NASA announced the final servicing mission to extend the usable light of the Hubble Space Telescope, but I was disappointed when the mission was reassigned away from Discovery. I know it sounds strange, but Discovery is my favourite shuttle. Discovery launched the HST and conducted the second and third servicing missions. It was also the return to flight orbiter after both shuttle tragedies.

But I digress.

I don’t know whether NASA has finalized the instruments that will be included in the Hubble’s replacement telescope the James Webb Space Telescope, but at last reckoning there was no visible light sensor on the new ’scope. I think this is a mistake. NASA is going to lose the shuttle in a few years and then the Hubble telescope is next.

The sight of the space plane being launched - not to mention returning to Earth - is memorable even on television. I regularly find myself becoming emotional as I watch. A capsule landing in the ocean and being intercepted by military - or Coast Guard - vessels doesn’t have the same impact for me. Especially given that they won’t be heading to the Moon again for more than a decade (y’know, almost a half-century after the last guys were there).

With the Orion spacecraft and the JWST being the lacklustre replacements for two shining stars of NASA public relations I worry that “space stories”, which ought to get as much press as possible, will be slipping below the fold and farther and farther back.

Let’s hope I’m wrong.

On another subject, tomorrow I’m starting a multi-day project on YouTube as part of VEDA. I will be “writing” a short story improv-style. With a new chapter each day for five or six days. Feel free to add your comments to the YouTube videos with suggested inclusions.

Until then!

Originally published at MadHacktress' Blog. Please leave any comments there.

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 03:57:45 GMT

is thinking that maybe SimCity Societies has some merit after all.
I've just snapped a new picture: dailybooth.com/MadHacktress/171632
is going to find out who is responsible for this snow... they are going to pay!
is watching Deadliest Catch.

Gamer girl, I ain’t.

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 04:01:23 GMT

When it comes to playing computer games I go in cycles. For a few days or weeks I’ll be really gung-ho about a computer game or games in general, and then my interest will wane, often for months. I’ve never really been a big gamer, although I’ve tried almost every game, and I’ve seen the rest (I’m a uber game observer).

Yesterday I was talking to a friend on the phone and he was picking up Civilization IV again after a long hiatus and was asking me questions regarding the user interface - where to find this and that, strategy, etc. As I started to think about the game and playing it - and no doubt at least partly because I loaded it in order to answer one particularly tough question - I ended up playing a few epic games of it last night.

This evening I have been flipping through my old game library and installing a few games to play again because I think I’m back in an on-cycle for PC gaming. No telling how long it will last - best guess is until the weather clears - but I’ll be enjoying some games in the meanwhile.

Any suggestions or just your favourite games would be appreciated.

See you on the morrow, good reader.

Originally published at MadHacktress' Blog. Please leave any comments there.

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 03:57:56 GMT

is freaked out that my BEDA post from yesterday didn't post when I clicked post!! Does that mean I failed?!?
looks like a hunchback in today's VEDA vlog... yay.
says: James Douglas, Governor of Vermont, FOR THE LOSE!!! Thank the Constitution for the override.
wonders why Microsoft has pushed IE8 for XP users, but not for Vista users yet...

BEDA 05 - Dream A Little Dream

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 19:54:41 GMT

Last night I had a strange dream that included me heading to a new high school (from which I graduated 15 years ago) and joining the girl’s swim team (for which I have never had the appropriate body type) and ending up in the middle of a weird high school love triange. Very strange, but very vivid.

Unfortunately it ended just as the cute guy decided that he liked me best.

Such is my life.

See you tomorrow.

Originally published at MadHacktress' Blog. Please leave any comments there.

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 03:57:07 GMT

is off to the shower.
is heading back to the mainland.
is watching TV.

BEDA 4 - This is getting hard (that’s what she said).

Sun, 05 Apr 2009 04:09:09 GMT

One of the things that I didn’t count on when I took on the challenge of vlogging and blogging every day in April was how quickly I would burn through any cleverness I have in my brain.

I’m tapped out.

Well, perhaps not entirely, but it’s getting there.

Today turned cold on us. It’s already been raining for the past few days, but today the temperature bottomed out and snowfall is looming large on the forecasted horizon. Of this I do not approve.

As cute as those pictures are of crocuses poking up through the snow, that’s not what I want to see when I look out over my front lawn.

On another topic: I 86ed another laptop charger today. There is something decidedly wrong with me. I don’t even know how this one happened, it wasn’t even warm, it wasn’t even plugged in. I went to move the laptop from one room to another and when I unplugged it from the livingroom it was fine (green light = happy) and when I plugged it in at our destination no green light (sad). I take this to be empirical evidence that I am giving off some sort of ray that kills technology.

That said, perhaps I should move away from the PC now.

Until tomorrow.

Originally published at MadHacktress' Blog. Please leave any comments there.

Sun, 05 Apr 2009 03:57:12 GMT

needs to lose this cold.
doesn't like seeing snow in the forecast. Yuck.

BEDA 03 - Renovation Dreams

Sat, 04 Apr 2009 04:16:10 GMT

Afternoon naps, FTW!

I have a 3-D architecture software program that I love to play in. This afternoon, pre-nap, I spent a few hours altering the 3-D model of the house (in which I live) in order to design an “if money were no object” renovation. I stayed within the constraints of reality, of course - not adding sixteen floors and a airport.

This is the original house:

This is the redesign as it stands right now:

It’s a work-in-progress at the moment, but I’m pleased with the results so far. I have to finish finding the curb-appeal before I can continue. The flat-nosed appearance won’t stand out as much when compared to the other homes in the neighbourhood. The internal space that’s created by moving the second floor fully forward to the front of the garage, and the kitchen wall (where the front door is) forward about 15 feet is amazing. It makes me weak in the knees to imagine my kitchen growing so much.

I need to win the lottery.

I love doing this kind of thing. I think it comes from my mother. She’s a renovation nut; and she’s good at it.

When she first moved in to her current home she immediately started renovations. It’s was big, gorgeous house on the lake, but now it’s a bigger, gorgeouser house on the lake. She fixed the roofline where it looked funky from an addition being built on, found room upstairs for a bathroom in what used to be roof space. I’m not quite as good, but I try.

Ages ago I designed my own “dream home” that I want to build one day. It went through a few iterations before I finally decided on the following design:

It is intended to be built in the country, hence the “country look”.

That’s it for me for this evening, I’m going back to dreaming of renovations and building projects for which budget is not a factor.

Originally published at MadHacktress' Blog. Please leave any comments there.