December 24, 2012 6:46 AM

December 24, 2012 6:49 AM

December 24, 2012 7:51 AM

December 24, 2012 9:58 AM

December 24, 2012 10:01 AM

December 24, 2012 11:22 AM

December 24, 2012 3:06 PM

December 24, 2012 5:39 PM

December 24, 2012 5:40 PM

December 24, 2012 11:15 PM

December 24, 2012 11:17 PM

December 25, 2012 9:08 AM

December 25, 2012 9:53 AM

December 25, 2012 12:33 PM

The Nexus 7 is a hit. She has found a scribble-coloring game that give a picture once finished

December 26, 2012 1:20 AM

December 26, 2012 1:43 AM

A Morning out with Veltie.

Getting ready to get some shit done:

Fighting with Veltie to get her to eat her pancakes:

And, we're just about finished with breakfast:

All in all, it was a great morning: just the munchkin and I. I love those days.

Saturday December 15, 2012:

She is watching Yo Gabba Gabba, and is entirely too dignified to "Jumpy-Jump."

Good Mythical Morning is going on hiatus for the holidays. My mornings will be neither as good, nor as mythical.

Wednesday December 19, 2012:

Tara got completely hosed and fucked over on a position she was inline for and essentially guaranteed. I'll do a full post about it, once I get a collective opinion on everything, as well as a clear outcome of it all.

Thursday December 20, 2012:

I often don't think my therapist is into diving into my issues, but she seems more into finding ways to work around them. It is getting frustrating, though she says that I (we) are making progress. I don't have as much faith in me that she does. I often wonder if it is faith, or if she just wants to talk about Christmas and shove me out of her fucking office. I don't get this woman. One session she speaks of possibly letting me go, because I'm not progressing the way they think that I should, and the next I'm making all kinds of strides to normalcy. It doesn't make a fucking bit of sense to me.

The company's Christmas Party was tonight, and I didn't go. It was because of the issues with Tara's getting fucked over. I'm irritated, but I'm not sure where to direct it to. I don't know if the manager lied to me, or if she was just passing on what she was told (which was also a lie). Either way, I'm there to work and not to fraternize. Right or wrong, it's what I'm doing (or not, in this case).

Kitchen Project

This was the day of kitchen cleaning. It was horrific. We waited entirely too long to clean up post-Thanksgiving. I also found a bag of rotting chicken blood and pieces in the bottom of the sink, below our mobile cutting board. It was fucking disgusting.

It's now in considerably better condition than it was prior to starting the project. You're welcome, world.

Do you see all the magical shinyness? Man, I wish I had taken pictures prior to beginning this project.

Tara's home. Now she can help. She gets to defunktify the oven. It's been fucked since we moved in.

Saturday December 8, 2012:

A Multitude of projects and not enough time to enjoy any of them.

This was the day that I updated my local Slackware-current mirror, upgraded my Slackware installations, installed Day One on the Mac, and finally got iCloud syncing to work the way that I wanted it to. I should probably check on the WIndows 7 and 8 installations, but those are supposed to be self-sufficient, right?

Then the evil bastard white shit showed up again.

And we must wrap up like the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man to go visit Nana

And, finally, our art project of the day:

Enough of the fun: it's now time for work.

This is what the lower vents of the roller grill looked liked:

And the outer oven plates:

The roller oven racks:

Then, the fully disassembled oven:

Cleaning and reassembly was a bitch-and-a-half, but it was done. I often question why I go above and beyond in the matter I do. I guess it's the fact that I actually have a work ethic. Thanks, Papa.

I just wish that some of the others could pull off what I do, then maybe my workload wouldn't be near what it is on the weekends. Fuck it, things won't change, and it's job security. Right?

Sunday December 9, 2012:

I still hate the new version of iTunes. That is all.

Monday December 10, 2012:

I was catching up on my podcasts, and I just realized that the Totally Rad Show is no more. It's kind of sad. Nearly six years of entertainment. Thanks guys!

Thursday December 13, 2012:

I know that I must write here once a day, but often nothing earth-shattering or even remotely remarkable happens. Today has been mainly work and fighting the urge to sleep. I've considered modifying my maintenance schedule. I've got all kinds of shit to do this weekend.

A comment to my friend Anna Howard on Facebook:

Anna Howard, it's amazing how few have graduated the High School stage. They will eternally live in that state, mostly because (I believe) there holds some odd comfort zone for them. They could also be sadists… depending on the end of the stick they hold.

I was not only raised, as I had to do a lot of growing up on my own. I was taught to shut the fuck up unless something was needed to be said. It's to the point that I can stand in a room for twenty minutes without you noticing me. I am a fucking ninja.

I don't readily hand out respect, just because of a person's age. Things like that are earned, mother fucker.

I may give an elder my seat, but it's only based on their demeanor. It's far from automatic.

I don't say sir or ma'am unless I'm being sarcastic or being paid for it. I often help, open doors, and say excuse me to those I come in contact with, but it's only when it feels needed.

I love the people that I do and it is for whatever reason that I choose. I treat people as I am treated, I have zero prejudice, even when it comes to things like kindness. I read people first.

I grew up in a tweaker pad, my parents did the best they could, and this is how I ended up.

Quit with the fucking, "I was RAISED."

Authoritarianism is in your future

The election was three days ago, and before I begin my tirade, I will note that Mr. Obama inherited a recession. We have to be fair. He didn't invent bailouts, nor was he the first to hand them out. He also didn't invent war. He took these from the previous chump whom held office. Before jumping into a bitchfest, I must point out the shortcomings that aren't completely President Obama's doing.

Only in America do we re-elect a president who did nothing to improve his inhereted recession. He took George W. Bush's horrible fiscal policies and double-downed on them. He borrowed five trillion dollars in his first four years in office, and promises to borrow another five trillion, without any hint of paying it back. The US Treasury was first used heavily as the "Public Trough" under Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt, it was grossly expanded by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and magnified by Lyndon Baines Johnson. It has also been expanded and modified by most modern day Democrats and Republicans alike.

We've re-elected a president, whose bureaucrats I wouldn't trust to run a Little League concession stand, have been given the power to manage the health care system of millions of Americans. The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) is here to stay. We are in for different times. No matter your current coverage (or lack thereof), federal bureaucrats will now direct your health care provider's treatment of you. Insured or not, A-1 coverage or Medicare, all will be treated the same. They will also see your once confidential medical records. There will no longer be a doctor-patient confidentiality.

Mr. Obama will need another twenty trillion (which equates to one trillion in annual interest payments). And where might all of these zeroes come from? A populace dependent on a central government, of course. Currently, our tax base is paid by roughly half of our population. The other half are draining it. Sucking from the government teat, if you will. Currently, entitlement programs cost Americans 1.7 trillion dollars, and can only increase. With nearly half of Americans receiving these entitlements, it is no wonder why he was so handily sent back into office. We are taxing one half of the population to support the other half through these entitlement programs.

Mitt Romney wouldn't have been any better in this department. While governor of Massachusetts, he was the architect of the health care system President Obama modeled The Affordable Care Act around. He also made campaign promises to keep entitlement programs at their current stages. Again, that's a 1.7 billion dollar burden on the tax payers per year.

I spoke with a local here, after the polls closed, and she stated that she voted for Obama because he was an evil she knew. Though evil may be a little strong for the points I'm trying to get across, this is probably where a lot of voters fall into.

Evil. Chicago is the unofficial home of corrupt politics. From the felonies committed by a governor over Obama's Senate seat post-election, to the Daleys continuous corruption in the city itself, Chicago is a hotbed for shady political dealings. This is where our president cut his political teeth. I'm not making assumptions on his credibility, but often the fruit doesn't fall from the tree.

We have re-elected a president who has expanded on his predecessor's horrible policies. Bin Laden is dead. Our Special Ops assassinated and gave him a burial at sea. Even with such evil eradicated from the face of the planet, we are still guarding poppy fields in Afghanistan, as well the oil fields in Iraq. Not to mention the other brown people we are killing in sandy places, for reasons we're not exactly sure of. The prisons at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba are still open.

We have re-elected a president who kills Americans in foreign lands, without due process. They aren't charged or convicted, just executed or held indefinitely without trial. This isn't purely for those abroad. Recent NDAAs (National Defense Authorizations Acts) Have given the Executive Branch unprecedented powers. An American, on American soil, can also be held indefinitely, without trial, and possibly executed. This is all without any sort of notification of family or any other persons. The government can essentially just make you disappear.

Presidential power has been greatly increasing since the attacks of September 11, 2001. There is no end in sight. The three equally charged branches of government, that were designed to have the power to check and balance the other branches. They were all sworn to uphold the Constitution. This was supposed to make itframe our nearly improbable for one branch to game the system. Thanks to the War Powers Act, (and a constant state of war), and the Military Industrial Complex, the balance of power has been shifted extremely toward the Executive branch.

Mr. Obama must micromanage and regulate not only the economy, but also the Federal regulation of your personal behaviour. Though he took an oath to uphold the Constitution, he utilizes it merely as a guideline.

The Constitution was designed not only to frame our government, but also to limit it's power when it comes to things such as personal liberties and state's rights. Mr. Obama has defused it, twisting it to suit his own agenda. He believes that our rights that we are born with are somehow endowed by the government, and therefore can be regulated (or suspended all together) by it. All of this in turn gives him the power to regulate any behaviour, and tax any event. This is whether it's authorized by the Constitution or not. It also gives him the power to make decisions of State over individual (when it comes to personal liberties), at any opportunity.

It's clearly tyranny. The only question I'm having a difficult time answering is if we are headed toward a Bolshevik revolution, or a Fascist, Nationalist type of government. The confusion I'm seeing is that not only does the government own portions of large companies, but corporations also own portions of our government.

Financially, I believe things would be much better off if we were to stick to actual capitalism. Capitalism is the most stable form of an economy that I know of. It's lasted for thousands of years. Many people are screaming that capitalism is what put us in our current state of fiscal instability. They are less than half correct. The issue we are having is crony capitalism. It's what happens when our government officials hand out cash to their friends, in corporations, with no strings attached. It's part of that whole "too big to fail" bullshit. If they were allowed to fail, and let the market do its job, then we wouldn't be in near the financial mess we are in.

It's times that we are currently in are where doors open, allowing socialism, communism, and other failed forms of economy to enter into the fold. It also allows dictators and other totalitarian regimes into the mix. If you're one of those who think such things might help us out of our crisis, how did the Russians do? Are you ready for breadlines? How does the thought of one pair of boots and eating government food for the rest of your life? I mean, I guess octopus has worked for Cuba for years. Say hello to our European-style welfare state. How well has it worked out for them?

Another issue is that we are a nation of consumers. We produce, but it's mainly for export. A good portion of the goods we use are imported, and therefore I don't believe we could sustain ourselves if a true collapse were to happen. I have a hard time believing that we can work ourselves out in the same way we did after the great Depression. It also seems that, even in a constant state of war, the Military Industrial Complex isn't helping us out of this pit, either.

I can't fault those who helped re-elect President Obama. It was a battle of Big Government versus minutely Bigger Government. This election was purely about wealth seizure and redistribution, and how much of your private life and behaviour should be regulated by the government. The Constitution doesn't give them this power (in fact it explicitly denies them the ability). We had two parties mirroring each other, both wanting to expand Executive power, as well as an endless war.

The scariest part of Obama's second term is the fact that he no longer needs to worry about an electorate. he can be as authoritative or "NANNY" as he wants to be.

Dear Hunters,

Thank you for taking over our county and town. Your exploits are enjoyed by us locals. We love that you belive you can park anywhere, in any way, and in any direction you can think up. If your precious vacation pickup or sport utility vehicle might fit there, you'll sure as fuck try to wedge it in there. Double, triple, quadruple; it doesn't matter. You'll stick that overpriced dick overcompensation right in there.

It's not that we don't enjoy the company. I mean, we keep the fucking bikers long before and after Sturgis. We get absolutely no cushion before you fuckstains show up. To top it off, at the same time we are contending with the bikers (and you), we get massive busloads of foreign tourists and out-of-state douchebags. It would be great if you could be kind and courteous to the locals (who actually live here), but no. We are treated as though we are in your way and owe you something.

We are not your fucking maids. Clean up after yourselves. Our roadsides are not your personal dumpsters. It's common courtesy. I don't drive to Wisconsin every summer just to shit on your lawn.

Oh, and just as a thought: keep a closer eye on what you are shooting. The local's livestock are not what you should be shooting at. You have to be considerably inebriated for a llama to look like "a pretty good whitetail doe."

I guess that I am slightly sensative to this issue because I have my own circle-jerk of hunting fuckstains that have infiltrated my home. My in-laws have invited a group to camp out here, while they are also feeding and enteraining them. They are loud and have absolutely no thought for the mentally ill bastard (and his baby) who are attempting to fall asleep under their booted feet and thumping chair legs.

To top all of this off, they come downstairs (into what is still our apartment), hunting for leftovers and other food. Seriously fuckers? We're going to be out in a few days. Can't you wait until we are gone before make yourselves at home, in my home? This is still MY portion of the house. After we (and all of our shit) are gone, you can fucking move in for all I care. Just give me the common decency to stay out of my shit, and portion of this house, until we are gone.

Mind you, it may have hit a little close to home

If someone with multiple personality disorder threatens suicide, is it considered a hostage situation?

Whether or not this came from someone dear to me, I realize that it bothers some of us. I know that it couldn't have possibly been in any way directed towards me (or had it even been thought about). Most have no idea about my diagnosis, nor what I have lived with for about thirty years.

Here is what I can say as a sort of rebuttal to the quote. Every day and situation can be a hostage situation. Often that's the light end of it. Most days, it's more akin to being knocked out, raped, (then left to contend with the rapist's jail term,) all while raising raising your rape-baby.

I get that it's nowhere near on the same playing field as a sexual assault, but you get the gist. Things are often done completely against the host's will, and usually without him knowing about it.

As someone who doesn't recall ever threatening suicide, it was attempted a few times. To us, it seems less like a hostage situation, and more as the end of the world. We exist because we were created to perform a function. Even I was created after the body was born. Most of us were created as a defensive mechanism. I was late to the game. Not as late as some others, but long after the carcass' birth.

Back to the point of this: not all of us are conscious all of the time. If Death were to come (with his sexy sythe), it would be like going to bed and not waking up. As for those who are, they don't always have an actual connection to the outside world. I think it would be like relaxing and reading the paper, then nonexistence. Of course, there are those that use the eyes as their window to the world. They may be stuck in a "hostage situation," though. There is a power structure, so it could be thwarted as it usually is. Not something for you to worry about, people.

There was a comment that was posted to the post in question, stating:

If they do pull the trigger, is it a Mass Shooting?

Cute. Why the capitalization of Mass and Shooting? Is it emphasis or some sort of MPD/DID pun?

Well, in a way I guess it could be considered a mass shooting because you have many identities, many people housed within a single cranium. They all have lives, as well as separated thoughts, feelings, ideas, etc. They are as different and uniquely identifiable as any group of people imaginable. Whether they are housed in the same body, or not, makes no difference. They are separate AND different.

As "middle school" as the comment was, I think that it would be a mass shooting.

it might be... the headline would be interesting to read

No it wouldn't be. There wouldn't be a fucking headline to read. You would find something on E8 or wherever they keep obituaries in your town), and it would read:

John Smith BORN Whenever DIED Yesterday

Insert the rest of the shit people write in an obit.

The first image sent to Earth from one of Curiosity's dusty hazard cameras.

This is a horrible, dark image sent from the same camera.

This is a much best and less dusty image sent from Curiosity, sent shortly after its landing.

And here are two of last night's rock stars of the Curiosity landing.

Bobak Ferdowsi - Systems Engineer

Adam Steltzner - Lead Mechanical Engineer for EDL

Clara Ma - The Namer