In response to pedrozangl

My friend Erin H recently posted a set of sentiments related to the Columbia disaster and the situation in Iraq that, frankly, took me completely aback as I read them--though they received almost unanimous support from her commenters. I think there are just some basic philosophical differences between our respective outlooks that inspire utterly different reponses to the situations.

( So.. what do I have to say? )

To sum up: I retain my humanity; death should not be as painfully important as American culture forces it to be, nor as expansive; throwing up a flag and a cry does not equal patriotism; war hurts everyone; and, a healthy [but small] dose of cynicism is necessary to keep hold of a bit of Realism.

Comics, or not

reabhecc and blaisepascal have both recommended the webcomic Narbonic.. from what I've read in the sample strips, it's quite amusing. Unfortunately, to access the archives (daily since 2000) I'd have to subscribe to Modern Tales, for the admittedly reasonable rate of $2.95/mo or $29.95/yr, thus giving me access to about 36 comics, none of which I've read (though one is by Jon Rosenberg of Goats, and thus would be good.) Problem 1: I shouldn't be spending any unnecessary money at the moment, but I tend to ignore that. Problem 2: If I have access to those comics, I'll want to read them, and well.. that's a whole lot of comics I don't have time for. Rather disappointing situation, overall.

Another comic that Megs suggested should be available at http://zodiac.mine.nu/comic.htm, but that server seems to be down at the moment. Another that Buddha suggested is The Snake Farm, home of several comic strips of various content and longevity, which look amusing after a cursory examination. However, it's almost 3am, so I think I'll head to bed. Maybe tomorrow before work (2pm) I'll visit the optometrist for my one-week-late one-week contacts checkup.

Got questions?

Columbia Loss FAQ

This FAQ is designed to hopefully provide a basic information source for those seeking news on the loss of the Space Shuttle "Columbia" and its crew on 2/1/03. By providing a basic FAQ addressing what are expected to be the most common questions asked by persons new to the sci.space.* hierarchy and/or those regulars who are only now finding out about the tragedy, it is hoped that the degradation of the groups' signal-to-noise ratio that usually follows events of this nature will be curtailed to a tolerable level, as well as hopefully reduce the level of baseless and unfounded speculation that tragic events such as the loss of Columbia tend to foster.

(link courtesy sebatical)

Long eyecare story short

Called 1030, arranged 1230 appt.
Arrive 1230, waited.
1300, they said "oh, you have appt?"
1330, got seen by Dr Cho (Dr Clauss last time), who said, "I could've seen you an hour ago!" Also said, "No, you're not 20/20 right and 20/25 left, you're more like 20/40 right and 20/25-20/30 left. Should really consider torics to correct astigmatism, up to you."
I said, "Will consider, can't afford now." He said, "Ok, try one box of current prescrip (1.5mo worth), then decide before opening next box."
My right lens on backorder, and it's been 2 weeks already, so got another trial pair.
Now, to work (1400!) which is why this delay was more annoying than otherwise.