http://outside.away.com/outside/features/200508/dave-shaw-1.html?ads=false

Very well written, but man that gives me the twitches.

I found the video of the dive, but man I don't feel like posting it. If you're truly interested, you can find it.

I am GeekAlpha with today's urgent breaking news.

Dateline Seattle:

Witnesses were shocked when a local man used the word "literally" to mean "in an actual manner" instead of "metaphorically, but with emphasis." Authorities are on the scene, but their local spokesman says that so far no casualties have yet been discovered, as the search for survivors continues.

In other late breaking news, the word "unique" was used without the qualifier "very." No one understood what they meant.

This is GeekAlpha, with the GeekAlpha Network News Team. We will continue to monitor this developing story and we will give you literally up-to-the-femtosecond coverage, reporting all the very unique details as they are revealed.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled program, already in progress.

Because of the heat, and the resulting sickness that always comes with drastic climate changes, I have not slept properly in a week, and really didn't sleep at all last night.

So, I am at this moment finishing up shots 10, 11, and 12.    Shots 13, 14, and 15 are waiting in the wings.

And I'm only half way through my work day.

Should be interesting.

Current Location: The Vibratorium!

where is the best place in town to get a tattoo?

I am out of here at 2PM today!!! That makes for a happy start to the three day weekend.

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/07/03/nzealand.soul.ap/

Hee. Mighty good pizza, that. I wish they'd come over this way, but I can already see the protests from folks without a good sense of humor.

http://hell.co.nz/

1. Thunderstorms are awesome, and the lightning last night was fantastic to watch. When I was stationed in Florida, I used to sit on the barracks roof in the afternoons and watch the lightning jump through the solid mass of angry clouds that streamed overhead. A good storm once in a while makes me feel at home.

Lightning is God's mighty fireworks.

2. My cats are needy. I think they suspect that I have been petting a bunny. Now they are always calling me to check up on me at work. They always want to know exactly when I am coming home and who I am with, and they keep checking my clothing for anyone else's fur.

3. This is interesting. An author allowed himself to be water boarded and it was filmed. Interestingly, I expected it to look much more brutal than it does, but it certainly left an impression on the author.

( cut for cynical snark )

4. In other, much happier news, I command you to watch this video!



( UPDATE )

Sunday Loser's lunch
Loser's Lunch
14 Carrot Cafe
2305 Eastlake Ave E
Seattle, WA 98102
12:30

comment or call to reserve a seat

Mr. Sloane
206-353-4086

There is lots of really old stuff here, like a tower built by the Romans in 300 AD! I think this picture shows the ruins of an old abbey or something of the sort. Earlier we walked on the medieval city walls - so cool! for some reason I think varina8 would really like this place. We're waiting to see if we get return tickets for tonight's concert (still), sitting on the steps in front of the Minster - wish us luck. If we fail, we'll do the 8 PM ghost walk.

http://reading.kingrat.biz/archives/717

http://reading.kingrat.biz/?p=717

By no means am I an expert on Iran. Even though my knowledge of the country and its politics since the 1979 revolution is limited, I can’t say I learned a whole lot from this memoir. And Ms. Nemat’s writing style is fairly dry and devoid of emotional affectation. Sometimes that’ good and helps a work avoid the maudlin. And in this case, it meant I never had a solid emotional reaction to the horrors Ms. Nemat endured. More clinical I guess.

Marina Nemat became a political prisoner at the age of 16 because of her support for anti-Khomeini crowds and anti-authoritarian views at her school. Briefly tortured, she was sentenced to execution. A last minute intervention by one of her interrogators resulted in her sentence being commuted to life, and later reduced to three years. In return, she had to convert to Islam and marry her tormentor.

In other words, she wouldn’t be killed if she agreed to be raped. Quite the choice.</>

Pretty decent read, but not great. I’m at a loss as to what else to write about the book. It’s definitely worthwhile, and even more so for those people interested in Iran that don’t know much about it. But there has to be better writings about the country out there.

Title: Prisoner of Tehran: a memoir
Author: Marina Nemat
Cover creator: Eric Fuentecilla (designer)
Imprint / publisher: Free Press / Simon & Schuster
Format: Hardcover
Length: 306 p.
Publication date: 2007
ISBN-10: 1-4165-3742-2
ISBN-13: 978-1-4165-3742-7
Subject: Nemat, Marina
Subject: Women political prisoners — Iran — Biography
Subject: Political prisoners — Iran — Biography
Subject: Iran — Politics and government — 1979-1997
LC classification: DS318.84.N46 A3 2006

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(...or perhaps more properly, "Off the road adventures," since we're still in Bozeman visiting my family.)

I spent yesterday re-acquainting myself with this town that was home for so many years. Bozeman's grown by nearly a quarter of its size in the last 4 years; there's so much that's entirely new and foreign to my eyes here. I gave Schuyler what passes for a grand tour here: there's where I got arrested, that's where the Great Hippy Roundup took place, I used to live there and my roommate threw his queen-sized bed through a single pane window.

Good times. :)

My brother and I wandered past the old "punk house," site of countless moments of drunken debauchery, random outbursts, and floor-to-ceiling Schmidt Ice cans. It's, um, changed a bit:



The crappy cell phone pic doesn't really do justice to the amazing pale blue and yellowness of it, nor does it adequately capture the white trellis and country-kitsch "Welcome Home" sign. My heart, she is broken.

After a day that I spent wandering and S. spent working, we reconvened to have dinner and play pool with my aunt, brothers, and their S.O.'s. Tasty food, mellow family dinner, very nice all 'round. :)

Schuyler and I went for a post-dinner walk through Sunset Hills Cemetery so that I could show him my favorite headstone of all time:



Yep, that's amused me since I was 13 and it's still funny.

We finished up at the top of Peak's Hill, where I once again completely failed to do justice to the scenery by using my cell phone camera to capture it:



After soaking in the beauty (and small grass-dwelling insects and a fair amount of high-altitude sun), we headed back to the house, visited with my other auntie and small cousin, and had a long, slow wind-down to a long, slow day.

We'll be sticking around here until after the 4th so that my uncle Rob can have his best shot at blowing off our fingers with expensive fireworks. :D More later!

Tags: adventures, family, peektures, road trip, s.
Current Mood: sleepy

The thunderstorm made it up here about 6 hours later than it did my friends. Which is about 6 hours too late. Because around 5 o'clock, some pollen that I am allergic to go into my eye again. Not quite as bad as last friday, cause only one part of my eyeball swoll up this time. I do not look pretty today.

"METROPOLIS Rebuilt!! Fritz Lang's Long-Missing, Full-Length Edit Has Finally Been Located!!"

Current Music: Annik: Get in Line for the Shower