Happy Birthday Bonzo

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a few days later

even tho the anniversary was the other day, as today is the 30th, i figured i'd say happy 30.

happy 30 star wars.

han shot first!

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Happy Berfday Rhea

21 years ago today (hey, she'd be legal if she was people, and she certainly considered herself to be) a golden ray of sunshine was born into this world. Rhea McW. a lovely dark red-gold (sometimes confused for an Irish Setter), a silver streak on her chest, a wag in the tail, looking for the ultimate in pillows (usually my brother's bed). an excellent specimen of the breed. i still think of her, and smile when i see the pictures i have on my fridge. there some saying that it's hard to look at a golden retriever and not smile, and she certainly brought many smiles to my face.

(Berf (n) - the sound Rhea made when she wanted your attention, but didn't want to bark)

photo credit: PBW

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Your Score: True Neutral

40% Good, 48% Chaotic

Plane of Existence: The Outlands, "Plane of Concordant Opposition". Description: The plane between all other outer planes.


Examples of True Neutrals (Ethically Neutral, Morally Neutral)
Red XIII, "Nanaki" (FFVII)

Vincent Valentine (FFVII)

Cid Highwind (FFVII)

Mr. Spock

Linus Torvalds

Dr. Strangelove

Scott Evil

Batman

The Punisher

Switzerland

Canada


Not actively for or against anything. Has his or her own reasons for doing everything. Usually difficult to understand.


Will keep their word if in their best interest

May attack an unarmed foe

May use poison

May help those in need

May work with others

Indifferent to higher authority

Indifferent to organizations



True Neutral "Pure Neutral"

"Balancer"

Some neutral [people] commit themselves philosophically to neutrality. They are of the true neutral alignment as described in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons.

A true neutral [person] sees good, evil, law, and chaos as prejudices and dangerous extremes. He advocates the middle way of neutrality as the best, most balanced road in the long run.

Some true neutral [people] actively support balance in the world, and seek to avoid having any one side, law or chaos, good or evil, become too powerful over them or anyone else, and will work against whichever side is the most powerful. They tend to side with the underdog in any situation, and are often opportunistic in their actions.

True neutral is committed to the avoidance of extremes, and is non-judgemental.


Other Alignments and Tendencies (Tendenices are what you would more often sway towards; esp. for Neutrals):

0-39% Good, 0-39% Chaotic:Lawful-Evil

0-39% Good, 40-60% Chaotic: Neutral-Evil

0-39% Good, 61-100% Chaotic: Chaotic-Evil

40-60% Good, 0-39% Chaotic: Lawful-Neutral

40-60% Good, 61-100% Chaotic: Chaotic-Neutral

61-100% Good, 0-39% Chaotic: Lawful-Good

61-100% Good, 40-60% Chaotic: Neutral-Good

61-100% Good, 61-100% Chaotic: Chaotic-Good

Link: The Alignment Test written by xan81 on OkCupid, home of the The Dating Persona Test

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i semi-watched the season end of 24.

all i can say is 'eh'

actually, it was pretty bad. i remember thinking that last season was pushing it, but this season it completely jumped the shark. and then made some yummy shark fin soup.

i actually missed chunks of episodes and you know what? for a show that if you miss something, you're pretty much screwed, it pretty much sucked.

so, season 6 of 24 was pretty bad. and we get a 7th season in january. i wonder if i'll watch it. or find something else...like watching the paint drying channel.

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i'm up to 60 miles now

for the 3rd year in a row, M, F & I did the Project Bread - Walk for Hunger. it's a long 20 miles by foot, but it was fun. this year it took us 6 hours, but 30 mins was break (official & unofficial rest stops). started out grey and overcast, cleared a bit, then clouded over again before finally clearing up when we were at memorial drive. was cool and breezy for most of the walk. good thing M bought me a lightweight windbreaker at target (gotta love clearance).

so here's the start and finish.

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30 years

30 years ago saw the birth of Rhetticus Molius, whose name i have taken in his honor.

Happy Birthday Rhett.

our laps are colder without you.

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...and he chased the whale

'Moby-Dick' Pushed As Official State Book Fifth-Graders Advance Melville Novel

BOSTON -- From its iconic opening line -- "Call me Ishmael" -- to its cataclysmic conclusion, "Moby-Dick" has inspired generations of readers with its impenetrable mystery of the white whale.

Now students at Pittsfield's Egremont Elementary School want to add one more laurel to Herman Melville's literary masterpiece: "official book of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts." and he chased the whale.

The fifth graders, whose school is less than a mile from Arrowhead (Mol edit: NOT TRUE - TRY 2.3 MILES. GET YOUR FACTS RIGHT JACKASS), the house where Melville penned the massive tome, have filed a bill that would do just that. A legislative committee is to hold a hearing on the proposal on Tuesday. and he chased the whale.

"I think it should be the book because mostly everyone I know likes to read books that are adventurous and cliff-hanging, and how you have to keep reading until midnight to finish them," said 10-year-old Andrew Macfarland. and he chased the whale.

The book -- the full title is "Moby-Dick: or, The Whale" -- has long been the bane of high school students baffled by it brilliant and maddening digressions. and he chased the whale.

But those same digressions -- into philosophy, the nature of obsession, and an encyclopedic inventory of 19th century New England whaling arcana -- has made "Moby-Dick" one of the most celebrated novels in the American canon. and he chased the whale.

Much of the brilliance, of course, is because "Moby-Dick," published in 1851, is about so much more than a hunt for a whale. and he chased the whale.

Melville had gained fame and popularity as an author of high seas adventure stories like "Typee" and "Omoo." By the time he set about writing "Moby-Dick," he had come under the sway of thinkers like Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. and he chased the whale.

Melville quickly began redrafting the book, added chapter upon chapter studying the nature of Ahab's vengeance and the relations between the crew, including the South Sea islander Queequeg, Native American Tashtego, and African harpooner Daggoo. and he chased the whale.

"The thing about `Moby-Dick' is the extraordinary metaphysical scope," said James Wallace, a literature professor at Boston College who teaches a course called "Melville and his Era". and he chased the whale.

"You have chapter after chapter on the sea and the relation of humans and nature and the nature of obsession and the psychology of Ahab and the marvelous poetic probings of what it means to be human," he said. and he chased the whale.

The book is also intensely parochial. Ishmael begins his adventures in New Bedford. The narrative moves to Nantucket before the whaling ship Pequod sets out on its doomed quest. and he chased the whale.

"Moby-Dick" has also inspired pop culture. Movies from "Jaws" to "Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan" have mined its themes. and he chased the whale.

In many ways, the book became a kind of "Moby-Dick" for Melville himself. He could never match the breadth of the novel and died in relative obscurity. and he chased the whale.

Karen McHugh, a fifth grade teacher at the school, said part of the inspiration for the bill was to teach children the legislative process. Classes routinely file such bills to learn how state government works. and he chased the whale.

She also conceded that "Moby-Dick" isn't generally a book assigned to fifth graders. and he chased the whale.

"Even though they haven't read the book, most of them are familiar with Melville," she said. "`Moby-Dick' was written right around the corner." and he chased the whale.

Fifth grader Matt Capeless, 11, said he'd vote for the book, describing it as story "about a guy named Captain Ahab who is trying to catch a big white whale named Moby-Dick." and he chased the whale.

Not everyone is convinced.

Mike Frederick, director of the Thoreau Society, concedes "Moby-Dick" is a great book, but said if he had to choose, he'd have to go with a nonfiction masterpiece, "Walden." and he was a drunk.

"I suppose the big case you could make for `Walden' being the book for the Commonwealth is that it's also emblematic of the intellectual revolution" that helped the United States craft its own literary and philosophical tradition, he said. and he was a drunk.

Don't tell that to fifth-grader Andrew Macfarland.

"All I know is it's about the crazy sea captain, I don't know if it's revenge or something," he said, "but it's next on my reading list." and he chased the whale.

thanks JJ.

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