NQ3X - Radio Free Raubsville

Greyhounds need forever homes! Step up, TX!

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 13:31:28 GMT

For my Hound-loving friends in Texas and surrounding states:

There are four Greyhounds waiting patiently for loving homes in an Austin, TX shelter. Here are direct links:

http://www.adoptapet.com/pet7036606-ss.html

http://www.adoptapet.com/pet7036605-ss.html

http://www.adoptapet.com/pet7036604-ss.html

http://www.adoptapet.com/pet7036603-ss.html

Let's get these beautiful Greyhounds into homes NOW! Look at poor Gomer. He looks like he's given up. Can't you do something to help?

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 15:29:57 GMT

I have absolutely had it with the 2012 political scene. Yeah, okay, the President isn't everything we hoped. We had such high hopes, it's not surprise he couldn't deliver on all of them.

But the alternative? If the alternative doesn't scare you to death, you must be a lunatic.

Why? I'll tell you. Strap in.

Rick Santorum and the other current Republican Presidential candidates are the American Taliban.

If you really listen to what they say, their beliefs and policies are not all that dissimilar from the Taliban:

1) THEIR radical form of conservative Christianity and no other morality should dictate our lives just as the Taliban believe that radical conservative Muslim principles should dictate;

2) Women are second class citizens who should exercise no - or at best a tiny token - control over their bodies and destiny just as the Taliban restrict and control women's mode of behavior, dress and education;

3) Higher education should be discouraged just as the Taliban discourage "secular" education, particularly among women and the other dispossessed;

4) Gays and lesbians are the ultimate sinners and not worthy of human or civil rights just as the Taliban refuse to acknowledge existence of gays/lesbians. To be fair, the GOP candidates to my knowledge don't advocate imprisoning and executing people based on their sexuality.

Santorum, Gingrich, Romney and even Paul are always preaching religious tolerance and freedom yet where were they when an American Muslim group wanted to build a community center a few blocks from Ground Zero? They all were vehemently opposed to it. Where was their stalwart support of religious freedom and tolerance then?

You see, it's only their version of religion that they want to impose on everyone else. You, me, everyone: Americans will only be "free" to practice their version of religion and morality. They want to do whatever they please, and be damned to everyone else.

Am I the only person who can spot the double standard and hypocrisy here? On one side of his face, the GOP candidate will advocate less-intrusive, smaller government. Out the other side, he - or, more alarmingly, she - will advocate governmental intrusion into your home, your morals, your ethics, hell, even your body.

At best this is lame inconsistency. At worst, it's in insidious invasion of America by totalitarians because we, the electorate, are too stupid or lazy to denounce. And the masses rise up to shrilly bleat their support for them, in rallies and self-congratulatory frenzies. While I hesitate to use the term "fascist", as an historian I am painfully aware of the very close comparison which can be made between the fascist movements of the 1930s and now. The GOP candidates are pandering to their base, with the assistance of a sophisticated, powerful propaganda machine, a machine which is so finely tuned that it can convince people hovering near the poverty line to denounce those protesting against the 1%. It can convince people that the Founding Fathers, who risked everything to throw off tyranny, want us to impose tyranny on ourselves. There is always someone to blame - welfare cheats, Obamacare, the list goes on - while behind the obfuscation the oligarchs line their pockets and chip ever more merrily away at individual freedoms.

I'm sick and tired of it. I know I'm not the only one who sees this bullshit happening. But I feel like I'm trying to stop the tide with a teaspoon; I'm teetering on the brink of despair at the very good chance our country - my country - might slide into a 21st century religio-fascist dictatorship.

New RH podcast!

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 15:55:35 GMT

http://www.reconstructinghistory.com/blog/podcast-episode-iii

Tue, 18 Jan 2011 23:06:10 GMT

How the Chinese Tried to Kill Me and My Snowblower

Wed, 12 Jan 2011 14:46:20 GMT

We woke this AM to some snow. Maybe 6 inches, so not a lot. But enough for me to fire up the snowblower and get cracking.

Some starter fluid and cursing - the snowblower is 30+ years old, a hand-me-down from kass_rants 's father - later, the Briggs & Stratton is purring nicely and I'm throwing snow off the driveway.

I make a couple of passes and wend my way to where the driveway meets Route 611, which is nearly as busy this morning as it is on a morning with normal traffic conditions. (It's a fairly major route from Easton to points south, including Philadelphia.) As I'm slowly grinding away the present left by the PennDOT plow truck, I see a mid-1990s Honda Accord careening towards me, completely out of control.

RIGHT. TOWARDS. ME.

I hurl myself away, abandoning the aged snowblower to what I assumed was an awful fate. The car jolted off the field-stone retaining wall at the front of the house, missed me by inches, and cracked into the snowblower before coming to a rest facing north in the southbound lane.

This is where it gets really interesting.

Three Asian gentlemen clamber out of the car. The car is really none the worse for wear. The front bumper has a crack and scrape where it fought the wall and lost, but the airbags didn't deploy. After using a mix of single-syllable English and pidgin sign-language, I determined the car's occupants were uninjured. They righted the car's direction and pulled slightly off the road to inspect the damage.

I was inspecting the snowblower - which didn't even move when struck - when I saw one of the men walking towards me with a mobile phone. "You call 911?" he said.

"Sure," I replied. "Are you OK?" (NB: "OK" is the only two-syllable word I used.)

"Yeah, yeah, all OK."

"Bring the car here," I said, making motions of putting it in the driveway. "And wait here."

I went into the house, grabbed the phone, and dialed 911, who connected me with the PA State Police barracks (PASP are the police presence in the township). The nice Trooper got the story, then told me to send the fellows on their way; if there are no injuries and the vehicle isn't disabled, it's between the driver and his insurance, and the PASP don't need to get involved. I asked him if he was too busy to wait a moment while I attempted to translate - I didn't want to ring off before I was certain the Asian blokes understood what they needed to do.

I don't know if you've noticed, but it's damned near impossible to tell someone to go home and call their automobile insurance company using a ten-word vocabulary and sign-language. I could hear the Trooper giggling at my distress and frustration - thanks heaps, officer - when one of the blokes handed me his mobile and said, "Talk to friend?"

Thank heavens.

The friend was obviously also Asian by his accent, but spoke excellent English. I had the mobile pressed to right ear and house phone pressed to left, and explained everything. With the assurance of the English-speaking friend that all would be explained, I rang off with the Trooper - still giggling, I might add - rang off with the friend, handed back the phone, and told the Asian blokes to sod off.

"GO SLOW," I advised. They waved and skidded off.

But then I noticed the orange monster of a snowblower, sitting in a pile of snow at the bottom of my driveway, dead to the world.

Oh, NO.

Not only do I have less than half of the driveway done, that f*cker weighs about 7,000 pounds, and if it's dead I'll have to drag it uphill before shoveling the rest.

CRAP.

ONNA STICK.

Well, nothing for it. Let's see if it starts...

The 4hp motor leaped to a mighty roar on the first pull. Hurrah!

The older-than-I -am, inherited snowblower that I've never maintained beyond changing the oil - once, the year I inherited it, say, five years ago? - CANNOT BE KILLED, EVEN WHEN STRUCK BY A CAR.

The damn thing will probably outlive ME.

So that's my Snowpocalypse Story. Thanks for listening.

S, M, SOAC

Tue, 07 Dec 2010 16:57:17 GMT

A different flavor of FMK, this is Shag, Marry or Shove Off A Cliff, brought to you by bad_gustav . If you reply to this I'll give you three fictional characters. Then you post to your LJ with pictures of each and label which one you would shag, marry, or shove off a cliff.

Black Cat, aka Felicia Hardy

Nowhere really to go with this one. Hot, certainly - ranks highly on my list of Hottest Comic Chicks EVAR - but ...

There's baggage there, if you know the back-story, that makes it difficult to just leap on the "SHAG, Oh my God, please, let's shag!" One doesn't like to play in to stereotypes, after all.

We'll mark her as "Shag".

Ellen Ripley

Wow. Too scary. Anyone - man or woman - this crazy and dangerous should be killed. Before she kills me.

I mean, yeah, you could shag. The shag would probably rank highly in the tally of Athletic Shags I Remember. It would probably involve a trampoline and parallel bars.

But mark my words - she'd turn into some Fatal Attraction nutjob and blast you out of an airlock.

So this one is "Shove off a cliff".

Rose Tyler

Rose is the bomb. She's a smart, determined, funny, hawt arse-prodder. I love that. She's also girly enough to be emotionally vulnerable.

The chav accent is a bit off-putting, but some things can't be helped.

Rose wins the Marry part.

Okay, also Shag. I mean to say, you can't look at the picture at right and not think "Shag", can you? Marble statues look at that picture and think "I'd really like to shag her."

Seriously.

YOU can help!

Wed, 10 Nov 2010 18:18:06 GMT

Friends,

In case you missed reading kass_rants , here's a link:

http://kass-rants.livejournal.com/435330.html

RH seeks investors - here's your chance to get in on the action!

Anniversary

Mon, 25 Oct 2010 15:19:03 GMT

Inspired by hugh_mannity , who notes today is St Crispin's Day, I am compelled to note it is also the 156th anniversary of the famous Charge of the Light Brigade at the Battle of Balaclava in the Crimean War.

Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
'Forward, the Light Brigade!
Charge for the guns' he said:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

'Forward, the Light Brigade!'
Was there a man dismay'd?
Not tho' the soldiers knew
Some one had blunder'd:
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

Cannon to the right of them,
Cannon to the left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the six hundred.

Flash'd all their sabres bare,
Flash'd as they turned in air
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army while
All the world wonder'd:
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right thro' the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reel'd from the sabre-stroke
Shatter'd and sunder'd.
Then they rode back, but not
Not the six hundred.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came thro' the jaws of Death,
Back from the mouth of Hell,
All that was left of them,
Left of six hundred.

When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wonder'd.
Honour the charge they made!
Honour the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred!

—Alfred, Lord Tennyson

FMK

Tue, 12 Oct 2010 14:21:19 GMT

From vairavi comes this latest time-waster she calls "F*ck, Marry, Kill". Here's how it works: You get three names assigned to you by the original poster. You then tell the world on your own LJ your choices. Her choices for me were as follows.

Elizabeth I of England

Kill. I can imagine myself as either a suitor or advisor - Dudley or Cecil, for example. Either way, she was such a hard-headed bitch that she'd have to die to make room for a proper succession to take place.

Elizabeth II of England

Marry. Talk about a posh gig! I could be the Anglo version of Prince Philip, bouncing around the Scottish estates in my ratty old Land Rover, searching for the best sites to get at some grouse come shooting season...wait, that'll have to wait until next month, because Ascot is coming up...wait, that'll have to wait until after the state visit to Monaco...

And before she gave birth to all those Royal Whelps, she was a bit of a looker with a great figure (look at those cans! Like two possums fightin' in a sack!). She could also maintain and repair her own motors.

Where's the flaw? Rich, royal, sexy and can change my oil for me.

Elizabeth Taylor

This qualifies as the world's biggest no-brainer. You can't spell "hottie" without using letters from "Elizabeth Taylor". No, really; try it. Honest.

Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra can best be described in two words: Yuh Mee. Plus I hear she had a tongue like an electric eel and she loved the taste of a man's tonsils.

So yeah. I'd hit that.

Those who want their own FMK can comment below opting in. I'll do my best to give you interesting choices.

RIP Eileen Nearne - Rose/Didi

Tue, 21 Sep 2010 23:54:40 GMT

Eileen Nearne, MBE, died 2 September 2010, aged 89. She was a wireless operator in France for SOE, where she won the Croix de Guerre.

Arrested three times and tortured by the Gestapo in concentration camps including Ravensbruck, she died alone after a hermit-like later life in Torquay. Her story was only uncovered some days after her flat was entered by local council. It was several days before her body was found, together with documents and medals which hinted at Eileen's remarkable story.

Her funeral on 21 September 2010 was to have been a quiet affair organised by Torbay Council, but the emergence of Eileen's courage and bravery has ensured a heroine's send-off.

Representatives of the armed forces attended the service, and Last Post was played by a French bugler.

God bless and rest you, Rose/Didi/Eileen. You were a true heroine, and an inspiration to us all.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-11297230

Gettysburg Casino? Not if I can help it.

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 12:51:28 GMT

For most of 2010 a furious debate has been raging in and about Gettysburg, PA.

Most of you know the story of Gettysburg, how it was the high water mark of the Confederacy, the turning point of the US Civil War. It is one of the most hallowed of grounds in our nation. The Gettysburg area is also deep in the throes of recession, with high unemployment.

Most of the land around Gettysburg is preserved National Park land. There's not much there but the Battlefield and National Cemetery; Gettysburg is literally a one-industry town: tourism.

One man's plan to help rescue Gettysburg is through the erection of a casino. Many, many people think that's a horrifically bad idea, including me. If you agree with me, you can help.

Please click this link and sign the petition. Thousands have already signed this and other petitions opposing the Gaming Control Board giving permission for the casino. It's free and quite simple.

The main supporting arguments for permitting casinos are that they will bring jobs, tourists and tax revenue.

Bollocks.

First, casinos to not appreciably breed jobs, especially well-paid positions. Casinos bring in employees from outside. The only locals involved are the ones who sweep the floors. Sure, they generate some construction jobs during the building phase, but those evaporate when the build phase is completed.

Second, casinos will not bring tourists for any part of Gettysburg other than the casino. Once in the doors of a casino, casinos make sure you don't leave until your 'vacation' is over. You can get anything you need or want inside its doors. Experience - including the Sands casino in Bethlehem, PA - has shown this to be true: Visitors don't diverge from the exit off the highway to the doors of the casino except to refuel their cars/buses.

Further, increased tourism can be a bane. The road infrastructure surrounding Gettysburg is frail. There is a modern highway - Route 15 - bypassing the town. But the road network is otherwise little changed from 1864, except for asphalt paving. Unless the casino is built immediate to Route 15, it is probable that increased tourism will damage the town's infrastructure and merely cause congestion.* Speaking as a person who has visited Gettysburg during the tourist season during a boom economy, the town can get frustratingly crowded. Remember, the reason a battle was fought here in the first place was because Gettysburg is a road nexus; seven different roads converge in the center of town, making navigation "interesting" in the Chinese-adage sense. This is a public-safety, pollution, and congestion issue.

Third, casinos are financial boondoggles for governments. Casino companies are very clever in how they word leases and agreements, ensuring they pay virtually nothing to local and state governments. The tax relief hoped for by casino proponents is a pipe dream.

Fourth, casinos have a track record of blighting areas in which they are built. One need only look a block off the casino strip in Las Vegas, or a block off the Boardwalk in Atlantic City, or a block from the Sands in Bethlehem. Those are neighborhoods through which a wise person fears walking.

Fifth, Gettysburg is a national treasure. It is the high water mark of the Confederacy, the turning point of the American Civil War. To plant a casino there is in appallingly poor taste; one might put slot machines in the Smithsonian, table games in Liberty Hall, or a casino just outside the Cemetery in Arlington.

Sixth, according to the Allentown, PA Morning Call's Paul Carpenter, some crass political dealings have been taking place to further the casino project. In other words, those who have millions are using that money to grease the wheels of the political machine, leaving poorer constituents without a paddle. See "Third", above.

It's a crock, friends. It's nothing more than an effort to make money from tourists who should, far from playing slots or table games, be exploring the history of America. Far from doing anything good for Gettysburg, a casino will only sully the memories of 160,000 people who died there in 1863. That is utterly revolting.

I hope you'll join me in opposing the casino by signing the petition.

Sincerely,

Bob

* And if the casino is built immediate to Route 15, the likelihood of tourists visiting the town becomes even more vanishingly remote.

USA Today story from March 2010

Philadelphia Inquirer article from 01SEP10

http://nocasinogettysburg.org/

You could at least clean up after yourselves.

Sun, 22 Aug 2010 15:19:43 GMT

Something to remember me by

Sat, 31 Jul 2010 02:48:57 GMT

I'm off to Pennsic in the morning, so I won't be posting or commenting for a couple of weeks. So you don't forget me, know that this is my new "WANTWANTWANT" toy:

It will be mine. Oh, yes, it will be mine.

Meme Time

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 23:12:31 GMT

Courtesy of sarahbellem :

1.) Go to google and type in "You know you're from [your area] when..."
2.) Cut and paste the list
3.) Bold or italicize items that apply to you.

-=-=begin paste=-=-

 1.  You think its hilarious that getting into New Jersey is free, but 
     you have to PAY to get out.

 2.  You take pride in the fact that after crossing into PA (from
     NJ) there is a sign that says "Welcome to Pennsylvania, America 
     Starts Here".

 3.  You thought everyone in the world had 2 or 3 different choices 
     for ABC NBC CBS and FOX (this reception is getting fuzzy, there 
     must be a storm in Philly, I'll just switch to the New York 
     Channel).

 4.  You've never had to explain that you are really from
     Pennsylvania, not someplace in the middle east (Bethlehem, Egypt,
     Nazareth, Emmaus).

 5.  You think Industrial Parks are better uses of the land then Farms.

 6.  You actually can show people the dairy where your milk comes from.

 7.  You've never thought that Walmarts are "creeping in" from the 
     South.

 8.  If it takes less than ten minutes to get to a mall but more than 
     10 minutes to park and get inside.

 9.  When Roadside America isn't a warm nostalgic idea but a 
     place you've passed on I-78.

10.  If you can go to a church bazaar every night all summer and not go 
     to the same one twice (and not win at bingo either).

11.  If you lived somewhere between Mario Andretti's place and
     Larry Holmes' place and yet never watched a Race or a Prize Fight.

12.  If you have rooted for either side in a Lehigh - Lafayette game.

12a.  If you own a piece of Lehigh-Lafayette memorabilia (a brick glued 
     to a plaque, a cylindrical piece of white wood from a supposed 
     goal post from a certain year, etc.).

13.  If you prefer Yocco's over Pott's  or vice versa.

14.  If you think Quakertown is far away (25 minutes by car) but you 
     think nothing of driving 15 minutes one way to pick up a friend 
     and then backtrack another 25 to get your girlfriend and then 
     another 10 to get your friend's girlfriend and then another 20 to 
     go to the movies on a Friday night.

15.  If you've ever been to a 'platz.

16.  If you've ever said to yourself "Damn, I need two more tickets" 
     while attending a platz.

17.  If you or any of your relatives have ever "worked the beer tent".

18.  You know when Rice's is open for business and plan accordingly.

19.  If you know the real reason kids have off from school the 
     Monday after Thanksgiving.

20.  When you and your co-workers discuss the "game last weekend"
     on Monday morning, you're referring to high school football.

21. You think the PP&L Building and Martin's Tower are skyscrapers.

22. If you finish every sentence with "dontchano".

23. You can get pierogies in every restaurant.

24. You actually think ring baloney is good.

25. Ring baloney is an appetizer at most black tie events.

26. You think the Morning Call has a great sports section.

27. You haven't figured out the correlation between the name
    Scrapple and what's in it!

28. The freak show at the Allentown Fair has more normal looking
    people than the people attending the fair

29. You've been stuck in traffic on Rt 22.

30. You know that 7th Street, MacArthur Road and Rt 145 are the
    same stretch of road

More reasons exist. This is just the first list I chose at random. More:

-You know what a tasty cake is, and when you go out of town you take boxes and boxes with you.

-A-Treat Soda, nuff said.

-If you know at least 10 or more people that have attendend or are attending a community college (LCCC, NACC).

-You call it a hoagie, not a sub, and definitely not a hero.

-You know what quoits are, and play it at just about every picnic, party, and place you go.

-You call it soda, not pop.

-You know what Turkey Hill Tea is, and drink it regularly.

-You think Martin Towers IS the Empire State building! (aparently some people do?)

-You know what a porkroll is, and actually like them.

-You hate anything and everything about Parkland High School, except maybe a couple of people, unless of course you went there.

-Someone in a Home Depot store offers you assistance and they don't work there.

-"Vacation" means going anywhere south of Philadelphia for the weekend.

-You measure distance in hours.

-You know several people who have hit a deer more than once.

-You know all 4 seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter and road construction.

-You know that Billy Joel's song is about Bethlehem and not Allentown.

-You tell people The Rock graduated from your high school (Freedom) and no one believes you.

-All the kids you know from New York and Jersey think you're amish.

-You can buy Yuengling from the plant it's brewed at.

-You or someone you know have gotten a citation for goin' to the quarry.

-You spell/say it Bethlum not Bethlehem.

-You remember when Beca was still a good football team.

-You know the words to the Service Electric Song.

-You know that South Whitehall Township and Allentown are different, even though mail is sent to Allentown (and probably the same with other townships).

-You know that there are covered bridges all over the place, and contemplated following those random little covered bridge tour signs.

-you know what the 'coop-d' is and you're sad that it isn't 24 hours a day anymore.

-you know where linkies is and remeber free pretzel stix from your childhood.

-you know the Qmart shuffle, and why the shuffle is necessary.

-you know where the best cheesesteaks in the lehigh valley are... CROSSROADS.

-you know how to drive 309 North as to not screw up the suspension on your car.

-you know the multiple ways to get to and from the lehigh valley mall.

-you know what bootgirl is, and what tattoo place it's located above.

-You knew what the "smile" spas were long before they were ever busted.

-Wing Night at your local pub was the highlight of your week.

-You have "Trick or Treated" at the house of the family that makes Mike 'n Ike's and marshmellow Peeps...

-You can pronounce 'Hokendauqua' or 'Catasauqua' without consulting the dictionary but still insist on calling it 'Hoky' and "Catty'.

-You have eaten the Grand Champion Jaindl Turkey that the President of the United States has ate every year straight since 1966.

-You are sad that Ken Matthews no longer hosts the Morning Show on B104.

-you ever tried to throw a penny on the back of the JC Penney eagle to make a wish.

-you remember seeing the old Bethlehem Steel buildings growing up and are sad to see them go.

-you remember when their was no fast food place in bethlehem.

-you remember lehigh pizza was in an old metal diner in the parking lot to where wendys is.

-You know that "indian statue" on 378 thats looking over bethlehem.

That's it.

Writer's Block: Should you choose to accept this mission

Sat, 24 Jul 2010 01:16:14 GMT

Which alias or code name would you be known by if you were a secret agent?

First question listed was submitted by mike. (Follow-up questions, if any, may have been added by LiveJournal.)

View 1423 Answers

According to http://www.channelone.com/fun/swf_code_name/ my codename is "Cavalier".

Which PISSES ME OFF.

I kept clicking the button looking for "Roundhead", but it never came up.

Royalist bastards.

Lament for Leopold

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 17:01:10 GMT

Lo! Leopold looked aloft
Hairy hackles raised high
'Gainst gray gnomes gathering
Watch and ware worked this wight.

Forth he fared, fearing naught,
Daily daring squirrels' dread.
Muttering mayhem, mickle might,
Lithe Leo leaped to defend.

Brave he bounded, brash and bold,
Faring forth to face the foe-man,
Until ended he, hale and hearty,
Singing a song of sturdy swagger.

No foe fought he and failed
Save the sally of cells his own.
Cancer creeping killed this war-dog,
Striking swiftly, sent from Heol.

Rests he now, regarding tree-rats,
Under trees teeming with tails,
Iron-will still minding master.
Lies he watching, Leopold the Loving.

I miss you, pal o' mine.

Bastille Day!

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 01:57:26 GMT

Kass Army UNITE!

Wed, 14 Jul 2010 14:35:43 GMT

We're losing our search-engine placement for some reason. This is ruinous. Something is broken; we're figuring out what it is. One quick fix is to get everyone we know to post five links to pages on our website. The links can be random; you can link to products (best bet), articles, etc. Links are best served surrounded by text. So if you go to your LJ and post something like, "These are my favorite five things from Reconstructing History" and add links, that'll work.

Please put five links in some web content somewhere you control. LJ, Facebook, your HTML website, Twitter, discussion forums, whatever. Don't violate terms of use, of course; be intelligent.

Let's go viral!

https://www.reconstructinghistory.com/14th-century-man-package.php?s=&c=22&d=29&q=1&p=561&w=21

https://www.reconstructinghistory.com/rh021-14th-century-grand-assiette-pourpoint.php?s=&c=22&d=29&q=1&p=538&w=21

https://www.reconstructinghistory.com/naturally-dyed-crewel-wools-individual-skeins.php?s=&c=143&d=146&q=1&p=525&w=21

https://www.reconstructinghistory.com/bockens-40-2-linen-thread.php?s=&c=143&d=155&q=1&p=511&w=21

https://www.reconstructinghistory.com/ultra-sheer-seam-backed-stockings.php?s=&c=23&d=199&q=1&p=607&w=21

So, this I Write Like thing...

Wed, 14 Jul 2010 11:29:02 GMT

...is bullshit. Apparently I write like either James Joyce, James Fenimore Cooper, or Stephen King.

Heh.

Birthday Wishes...

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 10:07:07 GMT

...are in order, if a few days premature.*

Happy Birthday, spanish_peacock !

Many happy returns and all that, what?

* As I'll be away from home this weekend I didn't want to miss it.

Towel Day...

Tue, 25 May 2010 14:14:14 GMT

...is today. Don't panic, and don't forget your towel!

http://www.towelday.org/

For Estele and Pierre...

Tue, 25 May 2010 11:57:48 GMT

...because it's freakin' funny. It's probably been round the 'Net for years and years, but I just found it this morning.

Consider this payback for the Habs knocking off the Penguins. Thppt!

Hee!

SPWF Piccies!

Mon, 17 May 2010 13:19:43 GMT

Rob Slater and Heidi:

More Slater here: - I'd link in the picture, but the photographer must have set something to Flickr which makes it impossible to actually, you know, share.*

madamekat and crew:

Steam-Boba was awesome:

If I can find more, I'll include them. If you were there, look for yourself here:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/steampunkworldsfair/pool/

We didn't take that many pictures. When I get a chance, I'll upload them. What a fun weekend!

* All I can say is, if you don't want to share your photos, why the f*ck upload them in the first place? Maybe I'm a bit of a Luddite when it comes to photo-sharing, but deliberately making it so that people can't pull your images with an HTML call strikes me as a really douchenozzle-y thing to do. "You can see my pictures but only if you go directly to Flickr to look." What's the point of that?  If I were a shutterbug, I'd want my photos far and wide so as many people as possible could tell me I'm awesome.

For reabhecc...

Thu, 13 May 2010 11:32:33 GMT

I can't put it any better than this...

Mon, 26 Apr 2010 18:10:43 GMT

"The problem with the tea party movement is that they want money for nothing and chicks for free. They want a deregulated free market and their jobs to stay here in the US; they want guaranteed health coverage regardless of preexisting conditions without a big government mandate; they want to call themselves teabaggers and people to keep a straight face. And of course they want big tax cuts along with deficit reduction. I can't even think of a suitable analogy for that disconnect--it's like thinking getting a handjob will clean your garage."

That is all.