"From the Gorge Waterway in Victoria, BC emerges “The Goblin Empire”. We are a mighty folk who have overtaken all adversaries with our spirit. Our battle cries can be heard across the Gorge and those who have heard it know to fear it. Our motto? “Go big or go bigger!” We live and paddle by this motto. Watch out — we are a team that will surprise everyone this season as we form a true force not to be reckoned with. TAKE NO PRISONERS!"
- Brent Schaus
from Bookmarklet
One of the guys from work is convincing me to join his Dragon Boat racing team. I'm pretty damned close to saying yes. I miss being part of a gang of some kind.
- Brent Schaus
If nothing else, it's a great way to meet people outside of work. :)
- rowlikeagirl
True that! I've since joined, and am loving it.
- Brent Schaus
Attended Michael's Trisagion Service tonight, will go to the funeral tomorrow. Family OK w photos, will post as memorial to Michael.
- Norman Demetrios Fletcher
Wish he could have seen us tonight. He just may have.
- Josh Haley
from iPhone
"when tomorrow starts without me....." My heart and prayers go to you, Michael and you're family. May you're family find peace and comfort in the days ahead. <3
- Lynda Dmoch
Happy Birthday Michael. nice to see your account is still here.
- Mike Nencetti
On FB he kept turning up on "People You May Know" even a few months ago. Bittersweet to see him there. Happy Birthday to Michael.
- Russian Space Lizard
"A woman walked across the tracks at the Metro Center station on Wednesday night, according to Metro spokesman Dan Stessel. Stessel said that at about 9:30 p.m., the woman decided to walk directly across the tracks from one side of platform to the other. She did not use the escalator or walkways, but instead cut straight across the tracks on the upper level of Metro Center. Midway across the tracks, she changed her mind and decided to cross back to where she had been. Metro employees told her to stay in the middle of the tracks while they cut power to the electrified third rail, which they did for about four minutes. The unidentified woman left the tracks unhurt. She was taken into custody by Metro Transit PD. it is unclear what charges the woman faces."
- John (bird whisperer)
from Bookmarklet
Is she from a country that doesn't have electric rail tracks at all? I'm very curious what the language barrier was as well.
- Zulema ❧ spicy cocoa tart
It doesn't say where she was from. I'd say it would depend on familiarity + language. I can honestly say that if it wasn't for language, people from around here might try that. The tracks we have here aren't electrified and are perfectly safe to cross as long as nothing is coming.
- Gimminy
from fftogo
well she still must be and idiot .regardless of county and language barriers. regardless of where one comes from cross railway tracks is always dangerous
- Peter Dawson
Around here it's not that dangerous. A train comes once every 4 hours or so. So you've have about 100 minutes to get off the tracks.
- Gimminy
from fftogo
"Thrips are tiny insects, typically just a millimetre in length. Some are barely half that size. If that’s how big the adults are, imagine how small a thrips’ egg must be. Now, consider that there are insects that lay their eggs inside the egg of a thrips. That’s one of them in the image above – the wasp, Megaphragma mymaripenne. It’s pictured next to a Paramecium and an amoeba at the same scale. Even though both these creatures are made up of a single cell, the wasp – complete with eyes, brain, wings, muscles, guts and genitals – is actually smaller. At just 200 micrometres (a fifth of a millimetre), this wasp is the third smallest insect alive* and a miracle of miniaturisation. The wasp has several adaptations for life at such a small scale. But the most impressive one of all has just been discovered by Alexey Polilov from Lomonosov Moscow State University, who has spent many years studying the world’s tiniest insects."
- rowlikeagirl
from Bookmarklet
As they get smaller, insects can do away with many of their organs. The feather-winged beetles – twice as big as the M.mymaripenne, but still impressively tiny – have drastically reduced the size of their genitals, guts and breathing tubes. They have totally lost their hearts: at their size, diffusion is enough to carry liquids around their body without the need for a pump.
- rowlikeagirl
Watched it in IMAX/3D. Some parts I really liked. The initial scenes are stunning. I was trying to figure out why I wasn't more in like with it and narrowed it down to whenever the crew interacted in the space ship it kind of sucked, otherwise it was pretty good. Those plots points were very thin and unnecessary. It takes its time, so don't expect an action a minute type of movie.
- Todd Hoff
Visually stunning, hated the story, the acting, the writing....
- Mary Carmen
I always go into movies with the LOWEST of expectations, which is my own particular animal. That said, I didn't hate it. The writing wasn't very good, but it's pretty.
- Derrick
My expectations have been steadily decreasing with each review I read. Perhaps I won't be disappointed, then.
- rowlikeagirl
Good question, Cristo. I think there's some correlation between the audience for a blockbuster (read: lowest common denominator) and the need for effects, explosions and action over plot or dialog. But I'm kind of cynical...
- Kevin (aka ThreadKilla)
Turns out it was better than I expected. IMAX 3D was pretty awesome (seems better to me than movies I've seen in Real3D). Plot holes and open questions aside, I think the perception of this movie will improve over time. Michael Fassbender is a totally kick ass synthetic person.
- Kevin (aka ThreadKilla)
So does this mean that Avater2 will kick arse ?
- Peter Dawson
"A study published in New Phytologist shows that this artificial rain of fertiliser is now making carnivorous plants lose interest in insect prey. Plants in lightly-polluted areas got 57 per cent of their nitrogen from insects; in areas that receive more nitrogen deposition, that figure fell as low as 22 per cent."
- rowlikeagirl
from Bookmarklet
Good show! Are you racing any of the 8 person hulls as well?
- Mathew A. Koeneker
I rowed in an eight, but we didn't medal. :P In our defense, this was the first race for 5 of the 8 rowers plus the coxswain, so I was very proud of their performance. :)
- rowlikeagirl
Thank you! Didn't place in the eights event, but this was the first race ever for 5 of the ladies plus the coxswain in my boat. But I did get second in the mixed double. I still got it. :-D
- rowlikeagirl
from iPhone
"The Flame espionage malware that infected computers in Iran achieved mathematic breakthroughs that could only have been accomplished by world-class cryptographers, two of the world's foremost cryptography experts said. "We have confirmed that Flame uses a yet unknown MD5 chosen-prefix collision attack," Marc Stevens and B.M.M. de Weger wrote in an e-mail posted to a cryptography discussion group earlier this week. "The collision attack itself is very interesting from a scientific viewpoint, and there are already some practical implications.""
- imabonehead
from Bookmarklet
"The analysis reinforces theories that researchers from Kaspersky Lab, CrySyS Lab, and Symantec published almost two weeks ago. Namely, Flame could only have been developed with the backing of a wealthy nation-state. Stevens' and de Weger's conclusion means that, in addition to a team of engineers who developed a global malware platform that escaped detection for at least two years, Flame also required world-class cryptographers who have broken new ground in their field."
- imabonehead
These Stuxnet/Flame stories are fascinating.
- rowlikeagirl
What are you focusing on activity? I do G+.
- Ami Iida
Hi Ami. I'm a little bit here, a little bit there. No real focus, which is kind of the problem. :/ Sadly, I've lost interest in G+. I want to like it, but I think there's too much "noise" from unfamiliar people.
- rowlikeagirl
Wow. It just...no. He doesn't deserve my words.
- Hookuh Tinypants
When is his employer going to fire him?
- rowlikeagirl
Best comment: "Dear George Tierney, I am an exiled Nigerian Prince, and a lawyer as well. I would be happy to represent you in court, and guarantee you will receive FIFTY MILLION DOLLARS upon the resolution of your lawsuit. Please send me your Social Security Number and the account and routing numbers for any and all bank accounts in your name, so I can set up the fund transfers which will take place at the proper time."
- Brian Johns
You are forcing me to consider taking my bike out of the garage for the first time in years.
- Shannon - GlassMistress
Shannon - dooo eeeeeeeet!... Audrea - if you mean "where are we rallying?", it's a virtual rally. click on the #ffeedbikerally tag for info. basically ride your bike May 25 - 28, take pictures (and share), have fun. I'M WAITING JKRAM. Kirsten - your general brilliance and awesomsauce continues to delight.
- MoTO #TeamMonique
You are very welcome. You can find basic guidelines here :http://ff.im/ITxm7. Also, contact Megan (Spidra) for help on joining the Flickr Group. I can help in a pinch, but I am old an my brain has largely turned to calcium.
- MoTO #TeamMonique
BTW Moto, does Baby have a carbon frame? <drools lasciviously> I really want one, but I'm telling myself I need to lose about 60 pounds first.
- Jkram|ɯɐɹʞſ
I've already done it! 5 pics added to the #ffbikerally flickr group - and even got Pete in one of them!
- Heleninstitches
Very very jealous, Moto. (But happy for you.) As to the 60 pound weight 'drop'... I'm sure the carbon frame could take me as I am, but I think that the visage of my fat ass on that sweet speedy bike would be a bit incongruous. Also, it's a perfect motivational device.
- Jkram|ɯɐɹʞſ
Fat ass schmat ass. While it's a much stiffer ride than my mountain bike, it is fast as hell. The difference in effort is amazing. It's incentive to ride, my friend. I've dropped about 40 lbs since buying it. Trying to get that power to weight ratio up.
- MoTO #TeamMonique
Yeah, that's what I tell myself. I miss the responsiveness of a good road bike. It's a big change to average 9 - 11 mph versus the 20+ mph I used to achieve on my long commute rides. Of course, that was 15 - 20 years ago, so I don't hold those expectations anymore, but I would hope to get back into the high teens after a few months of building a base and dropping those pounds.
- Jkram|ɯɐɹʞſ
I had that feeling briefly this afternoon. Despair! Panic! Foreboding! Seriously, I have almost zero activity on any other social networks. I still loathe FB, G+ seems like a sinking ship, and I've never gotten into the Twitter. Woe is me.
- Kelli H.
WE'VE BEEN PICKED UP BY THE NETWORK FOR ANOTHER SEASON! *pops a cork*
- Micah
from FFHound(roid)!
"Although several personalities in the popular media in Australia, Britain, and the United States have negatively portrayed the usage of [High Rising Terminal], claiming that its use is exhibiting a speaker's insecurities about the statement, more recent evidence (McLemore, 1991; Cheng et al., 2005; Warren, 2005) shows that assertive speakers, leaders of the peer group are more likely to use HRT in their declaratives than the junior members of the particular peer group. According to University of Pennsylvania phonologist Mark Liberman, George W. Bush began to use HRT extensively in his speeches as his Presidency continued."
- Victor Ganata
So Twitter bought Tweetdeck and screwed it up; then, it bought Posterous, which is broken. I think I'm done ranting about Posterous (Twitter) now. Drive through.
“I want a soul mate who can sit me down, shut me up, tell me ten things I don’t already know, and make me laugh. I don’t care what you look like, just turn me on. And if you can do that, I will follow you on bloody stumps through the snow. I will nibble your mukluks with my own teeth. I will do your windows. I will care about your feelings. Just... - http://silas216.tumblr.com/post...
juvenile bog turtle by USFWS Headquarters on Flickr.
threatened
The bog turtle inhabits Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge, NJ
Photo: Rosie Walunas/USFWS - http://dendroica.tumblr.com/post...
Oh no!! I hope you're better soon, Gunny!!
- Laura H.
Oh gunneh. I've had it, so I feel your pain. Get well soon, my friend.
- MoTO #TeamMonique
Ouch! I hope they've got you feeling better soon! It sucks to have to stay there, but at least they're taking it seriously. *sends healing thoughts your way*
- Jennifer Dittrich
"So, as we prepare for the series finale, it is worth pausing for a moment to salute the people behind “House,” namely creator David Shore and actor Hugh Laurie, two maestros who have pulled off a near-miraculous feat: After eight long and occasionally crazy seasons, their title character departs with all his amazing faculties and flaws intact. Dr. Gregory House is arguably the best and certainly the most influential character to appear on network television in the last decade. As played by Laurie, he answered the question many of us ask ourselves daily: What would life be like if you honest to God didn't care what anyone thought of you?"
- SteVe C
from Bookmarklet
my favorite eposide is the one where they diagnosed the illness at the last minute.
- Mike Nencetti
That was a good one, Mike. I also liked the one where House realized what the disease was after having a conversation with Wilson about a completely unrelated topic.
- Soup in a TARDIS
I think you people are verging on the edge of sarcasm.
- SteVe C
Was there really one where they diagnosed the illness at the last minute? In all the episodes I ever saw, the illness was diagnosed at 0:53 minutes into the show.
- Tinfoil 2.0
Dang! I was sure it was sarcoidosis... until the comment about the 'small black thing' (paraphrase... exact verbiage may have been different.)
- Jkram|ɯɐɹʞſ