http://publishersweekly.reviewsnews.com/index.asp?layout=article&articleid=CA327660&display=FeaturesNews&industry=Features&industryid=1803&verticalid=127

This is a very nice article about Peter Straub. I've never read anything of his, but it was an interesting read nevertheless. The article sounds like a hokey fiction novel, with strange characters in a strange world. And there were points when the people seemed almost condescending when they spoke about the author and his career, but it was still insightful and worth the time.

http://publishersweekly.reviewsnews.com/index.asp?layout=article&articleid=CA331735

Most writers don't take the time to look at the publishing industry from the other side of the chute. This was a really interesting article from the printer's point of view, with a lot of information about the publishing industry built in. It's pretty insightful. It all boils down to the bottom line. Money. People aren't making money because of the economy, and aren't buying books. Less books being bought by consumers means less books being bought by publishers from writers, and the ones that are bought are being printed less and offered for shorter periods of time. Ladies and gentlemen, the republicans are in office. What does that mean? The rich keep getting richer, the poor get poorer, and we're all up shit creek. President Bush...sucks to your asmar!

To My Devoted Legions of Fans: heh, yeah right. Just in case anyone was wondering where I've drifted off to, or why I hadn't posted anything real in a while, I thought I'd drop a line here and let everyone know I am in fact alive and kicking. Do to an unimaginably and unexpectedly intense, pleasurable, and ongoing meeting of souls with a nice young man I have been extremely distracted this past month. So distracted, in fact, that I haven't done much writing. *gasp! O_O* That would explain the spewing of words that you're witnessing here. I do plan to regain some semblance of self-control in the coming days, get back to my writing, and in turn start posting here on a more regular basis. We, the nice young man and I, have agreed to stay our nightly meetings to every other night in order to maintain our sanity. Having said all of that, I have nothing particularily interesting to say at the moment. I'll come up with something, and post that a little later. Heh, figures, right? loki loki !!

http://www.canada.com/victoria/news/story.asp?id=03A09842-B2AC-44C9-B225-741BFF84055B

I'm willing to bet that people migrated even earlier than that, but at least it'll have the scientific communities attention.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/10/20/airline.scare/index.html

This kid gets everything they throw at him (if he is, in fact, guilty). I don't care what his excuse for doing it is. He's not improving anything by his act of 'civil disobedience.' He's made himself and his actions a burden upon others. The days of 'I just wanted to test the airline security' have long gone.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/TV/10/20/ple.alda.reut/index.html

Alan Alda is my favorite all-time TV actor. My fingers are crossed and I'm praying for his speedy recovery.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/aids/story/0,7369,1059068,00.html

The Vatican is telling people in 4 continents most at risk for AIDs that condoms won't stop the transmittal of the disease. The medical centers being funded by the catholic church are not allowed to distribute condoms because the church frowns upon it (O_O). Yet the WTO says that condoms are 90% effective against AIDS. The vatican says they're wrong. Sounds like the vatican is shooting itself in the foot. I think there are some things the church is better leaving alone. But I'm not catholic, so don't listen to me.

This study discusses the physiological effects of emotional blows on the brain. Apparently the brain reacts to physical and emotional blows the same way.
http://www.cnn.com/2003/HEALTH/10/09/ego.pain.ap/index.html

No jury alive will buy an insanity plea by this kid. None. I'm no expert, but in my studies into psychology (I have a degree in psychology) I've found that it's virtually impossible to successfully plea insanity and get away with it. This guy was never, and is not now, insane according to indroctrination. He's just got a sick sense of reality. He'll end up in prison for the rest of his natural life. And that's exactly where he belongs.
http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/10/09/sniper.malvo/index.html

I don't have an opinion one way or another on this. I hope the guy heals and ends up good as new. Thought I'd put it here for anyone interested in the matter. I do, however, beleive that if the tiger had wanted the guy dead, he'd be dead.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/10/08/siegfried.roy/index.html

Universe finite and patched together like a soccer ball?

http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/space/10/09/universe.soccer.ball.reut/index.html

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&postid=4079701#post4079701

The worst things that people did as kids. ROFL. Can you guess which one is my post? Mwa ha ha ha.

*WARNING - ADULT CONTENT*

Bloodhound Gang, "The Bad Touch"

Sweat, baby, sweat baby. Sex is a Texas drought. Me and you do the kind of stuff that only Prince would sing about. So put your hands down my pants, and I bet you'll feel nuts. Yes I'm Siskel, yes I'm Ebert, and you're getting two thumbs up. You've had enough of two hand touch, you want it rough, you're out of bounds. I want you smothered, want you covered like my waffle house hash browns. Coming quicker than fed ex, never reaching apex. Just like coca cola. Stop. You are inclined to make me rise an hour early just like day light savings time.

Chorus: (Do it now.) You and me baby, ain't nothing but mammals, so let's do it like they do on the discovery channel. (Do it again now.) You and me baby, ain't nothing but mammals, so let's do it like they do on the discovery channel. (Gettin' horny now.)

Love, the kind you clean up with a mop and bucket. The lost catacombs of Egypt, only God knows where we stuck it. Heiroglyphics. Let me be Pacific, I want to be down in your south seas. But I've got this notion that the motion of your ocean means small craft advisories. So if I capsize on your thighs, high tide. B5, you sunk my battle ship. Please turn me on, I'm Mr. Coffee with an automatic drip. So show me yours, I'll show you mine. Tool time you'll love it just like Lyle. And then we'll do it doggy style so we can both watch x-files.

Chorus (x's 3)

Ha ha ha. *Snicker* Have you ever wondered...?

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=215848

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/wiltshire/3167526.stm

These are the kinds of articles I love to read. 300,000 years! That's bloody amazing.

To all of my kitty loving fools...erm, I meant friends. ;)

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=215177

I get annoyed pretty quickly when things in my life aren't going my way. I used to wonder why life has to be so hard, why can't things ever just be easy. Then I had a dream. In said dream this guy told me that when life is easy, you breeze through it, not remembering anything. But when life gets tough, and you've got to struggle for tomorrow, well that's when you're really alive. Those are the days that count the most. Knowing all of that, I'm stilled annoyed that my life is so tough right now. I just lost my best friend a couple of days ago. That's freaking tough. I feel like someone ran over my puppy, and I don't have anyone to talk to about it. Because he won't even talk to me anymore, he's avoiding me like the plague. Part of me is grateful because it would be hard to talk to him and not worry about when the next time I'd get cut off was. But the rest of me is wounded. *grumble* I miss my friend. (And I'm trying very hard not to sound too pathetic here.)

"What is love? Ask him who lives, what is life. Ask him who adores, what is God...Love is that powerful attraction towards all that we conceive, or fear, or hope beyond ourselves, when we find within our own thoughts the chasm of an insufficient void, and seek to awaken in all things that are, a community with what we experience within ourselves."
-Mary Shelley

I had a very interesting run in with a spider tonight, and my friends at FM chat wrote a few haikus about it.

Phy verus spider
She has a big can of RAID
Phy kills the spider

spider versus phy
weapons of mass destruction
who is the winner?

Virginian in peril
She has a big can of RAID
victorious phy

Hee hee hee. :D

I wrote my poem for the anthology today. At least, I think it's finished. I'd like to bounce it off some people and see what they think, but I'm pretty limited in the number of people that I know who know about poetry. Oh well. I'm more worried about my health at the moment. Last night I had a migrain headache and couldn't fall asleep. Today I'm having problems eating, or keeping down what I eat. Everything is making me nauseous. I'm not sure what's wrong with me. I don't have a raging fever, on the contrary, I'm freezing cold all over. I'm also pale as a ghost. But I'm more worried about keeping down my dinner. I ate two crab cakes, and was tired but feeling okay before I ate. Now I've got a bucket in front of me just waiting for them to come back up. Same thing happened after lunch, I ate some pasta and had to battle to keep it down. I'm hoping that I feel better by the time think tank comes around. I need some brainstorming help on my vampire trilogy. But at least I finished my poem, I think. *fingers crossed* I'm going to subscribe to the 'writer's digest' for a year. My mom got a copy in the mail by accident and I looked at it. It's a good magazine. It makes me want to write up a storm. And last night me and some friends started a multiple genre/mixed genre online crit cirlce and writing group. We're going to get three other people and get it going. All of the info will be posted at FM. I hope we get people we can trust and get to know. I think writing cirlcles are awesome. I've very excited to be a part of one. I'm off to find a blanket to wrap myself in, and kick around the internet for a while until think tank starts. And listen to my bodaceous tunes, of course.

What ever happened to the seperation of religion/state? Bush is at it again, creating more stink. Apparently he wants people to be discriminated against based on their religion, and via that, their sexuality when applying for certain jobs, and social services. Yuck.

http://www.southernvoice.com/2003/10-3/news/national/house.cfm

'I have been astonished that men could die martyrs for
their religion.
I have shuddered at it.
I shudder no more.
I could be martyr'd for my religion.
Love is my religion.
And I could die for that.
I could die for you.'
-John Keats

That's my new new quote on Forward Motion. I love Keats.

Moving on. Here's a little comic releif from Monty Python, supplied by my friend Ben. Thanks Ben, for everything.

Isn't it awfully nice to have a penis?
Isn't it frightfully good to have a dong?
It's swell to have a stiffy.
It's divine to own a dick,
From the tiniest little tadger
To the world's biggest prick.
So, three cheers for your Willy or John Thomas.
Hooray for your one-eyed trouser snake,
Your piece of pork, your wife's best friend,
Your Percy, or your cock.
You can wrap it up in ribbons.
You can slip it in your sock,
But don't take it out in public,
Or they will stick you in the dock,
And you won't come back.

A clarification for a certain person: My 'shit on the shoe' comment was a sarcastic response to your 'friends' comment. I am a queen and a goddess, and I pity the man who EVER forgets it.

Hey, I'm only human. I make mistakes just like everyone else in this world. So I can admit it, I made a freaking doozy of a mistake. Ordinarily my heart and my gut don't let me down. And my faith has never let me down...until today. I took a monumental chance, a leap of faith, I trusted that something and someone good could actually come into my life without any strings attached. I let myself feel something I haven't felt in a long time and I had the balls to hope for something good in the future. And what happened? What always happens in my life? I got shat on. You'd think I'd get used to it, considering being shat on is the running theme in my life. But this particular shat stung more than most. Who know's maybe it was the timing, the situation, whatever. But I've moved on from hurt to pissed. Too bad God didn't make me a lesbian, I'd gladly swap teams right now. ALL MEN ARE THE SAME. All of them. No matter what one of them tells you ladies, don't beleive them, not for a millisecond. And don't beleive your heart or brain if either of them suggest anything with any man could ever possibly be real, possible, hopeful, or the like. Tell yourself to go fuck yourself. Well, you know what I mean. So I'm looking for the silver lining, and here it is...I've learned a valuable lesson. One of *the* most valuable ever. Men are slime. Don't trust them, or yourself around them. And no matter what you do, or think, under no circumstances open yourself up to them and try to be unequivocably honest with them. You may think I sound synical, but let me tell you how I know what I've just said is true. Because if you do that, open yourself, take a chance, and try to let something good happen, you're going to get screwed up the ass. Every time. BECAUSE ALL MEN ARE ALIKE. I say fuck them all, and I don't mean literally.

Want to know what a man's thinking? Check this out.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/HEALTH/10/01/men.brain.reut/index.html

I can't wait to read the book.