betsy's fair and balanced stuff

2009-07-02T14:09:00.002-05:00

i do not talk very hugely much when i am happy, i think. at least not online. but i am happy, it isn't that i've fallen off the planet or anything. fyi.

2009-06-14T23:11:00.002-05:00

i am having a very pleasing and very full life at the moment. it was wiscon over memorial day weekend, this week i am doing an upgrade at work (which is part of the full part but not so much of the pleasing part), and then on thursday i go up north for a few days for my grandmother's memorial service (she died in december and has been cremated and in my parents' living room ever since), where it will be nice to see family and not so nice to have it be at a funeral, and i am dating someone and it is going well. then there's the usual summer whirl of conventions, and i seem to be going to someone else's family reunion in july. i am a little terrified of that; dozens of people i don't know, and what if i say something that i think is funny and they all back away from me slowly? eep. but we'll see.

2009-04-09T21:53:00.002-05:00

it's spring here. spring spring spring. 50 degrees out when i went out for dinner.

this is not the weather that makes me so very glad that i live in this state (you have to wait for october for that), but it is, as we say here, not bad.

2009-02-24T21:42:00.001-06:00

my fine fine parents lent me a set of dog steps that i have now put in the nursery aka computer room aka guest room (i have a small house and believe in multitasking), so now pirate can get up on the guest bed which is right next to my computer desk. now, she comes and licks my hands while i am typing. at the moment i have most of the spare desk space taken up with the laptop that i am trying to install fedora on (currently i am cursing video drivers as well as wireless drivers; 800x600 less than ten feet away from my hub is less fun than it sounds...) otherwise she gingerly hops up on the slippery desk and walks over and hops down into my lap. this would work better if there was room for a dog on my lap while i was typing. due to the construction of the betsy and the desk setup, there is not much dog room there. ah, well. she is still a fine pirate dog.

2009-02-11T22:44:00.002-06:00

here in fair minnesota, it's the middle of winter. we've been having a completely ridiculous warm spell-- i mean, nice, but ridiculous-- but that doesn't make it not winter. there's still ice on all the roads and snow on even the lawns that get sun.

this means most people are a little flat, myself included.

i did throw a party this last weekend; it was a bunch of fun. i still crash relatively early, but it's better than it was before the new knee. and some friends decided they were going to host a pi day party. i am all excited about that. and i think i may have more cider leftover than i can drink between now and then, so if i still have some, i will likely bring it over there. mwhahaha.

Medical News: Body Weight Makes No Difference in Ovarian Cancer Survival - in Hematology/Oncology, Other Cancers from MedPage Today

2009-01-05T21:49:00.000-06:00

i am so angry about this that i almost can't talk about it.

Medical News: Body Weight Makes No Difference in Ovarian Cancer Survival - in Hematology/Oncology, Other Cancers from MedPage Today

All patients received chemotherapy administered according to their actual body weight. Often, chemotherapy is administered based on ideal weight, which may lead to insufficient doses for obese patients, according to the researchers.

in plain english, when they gave the patients doses of medicine calculated as to what they actually *did* weigh, rather than what the medical profession thought they *ought* to weigh, fat women with ovarian cancer live just as long as skinny women with ovarian cancer.

chemotherapy is nearly always systemically administered rather than directly administered to the tumor. this means you take pills or they inject the medicine into you.

that means that in order to be effective, you have to adjust the size of the dose to reflect the size of the system aka patient.

that means that when they weigh you when you go in to see your oncologist? they may or may not be using that information for anything useful, like, making sure your treatment is effective.

goddamnit.

2008-12-29T15:23:00.001-06:00

a good review of the day the earth stood still at gendergoggles. i liked the movie and i liked the review, and the review points out that the movie does, in fact, pass the bechdel test. i was pretty sure it did, but it's good to have my thoughts confirmed.

2008-12-26T23:33:00.001-06:00

Free Will Astrology : Libra Horoscope: "Libra Horoscope for week of December 25, 2008

Libra (September 23-October 22)
'I saw the angel in the marble and I carved until I set him free.' That was Michelangelo talking about how he approached his work as a sculptor. He didn't build the statue, in other words, but got rid of the unnecessary stuff that was surrounding it. I suggest that you try this approach in 2009. You have the potential to create a great thing -- maybe even two great things -- by chiseling away the extraneous material that's obscuring their unique beauty."

this isn't one of rob brezny's horoscopes that whacks me over the head and informs me of how true it is. but it's interesting, and i wanted to keep it to think about it.

2008-12-07T22:50:00.001-06:00

i am watching the first episode of leverage on tv. it has christian kane in it. you may remember him from angel, as lindsay. he is still totally hot. even in a striped tie and a plaid shirt pretending that he likes to dress up as a klingon. i wonder who the writers are on this show, that they know about sf conventions. hm.

2008-12-05T11:32:00.002-06:00

most of the stuff that is exciting in my life at the moment is related to the adoption. which i am talking about somewhere else. email me if you want the url.

it's not like the rest of my life is not worth talking about at the moment, i am just not doing it. am trying to be talkier, though. because hello, did i mention valuing connection with people. so, hi. what's up with you?

2008-11-28T09:11:00.002-06:00

things i am being thankful for this year, a day late.

the whole adoption process being underway.

living in minnesota, which i love, as much as i'm going to bitch about the cold and snow for the next four months.

being bionic.

having a job and being able to pay my bills and keep a roof over my head.

being able to do that and still buy ice cream and give other people help that they need every once in a while.

my dogs, who guard the house against the oncoming squirrel zombie invasion.

science fiction fandom just in general. so glad i found it when i was a teenager.

my family-- my dad and mom and m. socks and her boyfriend are all good people. in minnesotan, they're pretty okay. i am blessed to have family members who i also consider friends. there is also my grandmother, who i love dearly, and who is ninety four and a little fragile, and she is here for another thanksgiving.

my friends, all y'all. you listen to me talk and let me listen to you, and connections with other people are one of the most important things in the world to me. thank you for connecting with me.

now, off to throw the ice cream in the car and head for dinner.

if you are american, i hope you had a good thanksgiving. if you are not american, i hope you had a nice thursday.

2008-11-24T22:29:00.002-06:00

just finished watching _inside man_ off the tivo.

whoa. that is a seriously good movie.

i was hoping to watch half an hour of it, maybe forty five minutes, see some stuff blow up, go to bed.

i watched the whole thing and am still puzzling through parts of it. like, the title. and which set of boobs was which. (seriously, it's a plot point.) and they did *what*? and ... i could say more but then there's spoilers. wow. i am very pleased to have watched this, even though i was really hoping for an 8pm bedtime.

2008-11-20T12:42:00.002-06:00

today is the transgender day of remembrance.

here is a list of trans people that were killed for being trans this year.

go read their names.
they deserve to be remembered.

they deserve to have not been killed for being who they are.

history

2008-11-05T10:19:00.001-06:00

history
Originally uploaded by kalmn

that's the title i've stolen from joe over at joe. my. god., which is where i got the picture, too.

i think i'm still kind of in shock.

Abortion Ban Defeated - Planned Parenthood - Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota

2008-11-05T10:01:00.000-06:00

Abortion Ban Defeated - Planned Parenthood - Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota

Abortion Ban Defeated

South Dakotans Reject Second Abortion Ban in Two Years � Planned Parenthood Calls for End to Divisive Politics - Calls for Meaningful Conversation about Health Care

November 4, 2008

(Sioux Falls, SD) For the second time in two years, South Dakotans have voted down a dangerous and unconstitutional abortion ban.

yesssssssssssssssssssssssssss.

2008-11-04T23:28:00.001-06:00

chill2110308
Originally uploaded by kalmn

yes we can, people. yes we can.

2008-10-30T22:20:00.002-05:00

four years ago this week i told my exhusband that i wanted a divorce.

it seems to have worked out well for me, and from what i hear through the grapevine, for him. so, a good move all around.

i feel like i ought to write several long maudlin paragraphs here, but i'm not feeling maudlin about it. it just occurs to me every year around halloween, hey, anniversary. or not-anniversary. or something. (why does english not have a word for this?)

2008-10-29T15:42:00.001-05:00

today, it is october 29th. friday, it will be october 31st, aka halloween, aka samhain. november 1st is the new year. yes, pagans keep it at a different time than the official calendar does. jewish people had a new year last month. me, i believe in celebrating lots of holidays.

so, if i forget to update on friday and this weekend, blessed samhain, and a happy new year to you!

ways in which i am smarter than alan greenspan

2008-10-23T15:34:00.001-05:00

Picture 1
Originally uploaded by Alison Bechdel

it's a short list, but this is definitely on there.

2008-10-10T13:07:00.002-05:00

look! i'm in the wall street journal! go me!

Housing Pain Gauge: Nearly 1 in 6 Owners 'Under Water'

that's me! i'm the one in six! also part of the 29% who bought houses in the last five years and are under water.

by under water, they (and i) mean that i owe more money on the house than it's worth.

fortunately, i have a good job, and can make my payments. and i love my house and i love living here, so i am going to continue to do so.

but if you were thinking that you didn't know anyone like that, that you didn't know anyone who was upside down on their house, that you didn't know anyone who bought at the very top of the housing bubble, well, you do. here i am.

2008-10-07T21:56:00.002-05:00

disability as architectural criticism.

In the case above, by demanding repetition, we uncover the hidden image of overcoming the �lesser body� that I really believe moves through the heroic theory of architecture.

wow. this is another one of those areas where it had never occurred to me that there was something to study there, yet there it is. now i want to know all about the heroic theory of architecture so that i can spend pages upon pages explaining how it others people with disabilities.

after i win the lottery, this is so going on my list of things to get degrees in.

2008-09-26T21:57:00.002-05:00

on this day, 25 years ago, Stanislav Yevgrafovich Petrov correctly identified signals being received by his systems as a computer glitch, and chose not to send nuclear missiles towards the united states in retaliation for what his systems were telling him was a small nuclear attack on moscow.

i was ten, just started seventh grade, looking forward to my birthday in a few weeks, getting used to junior high.

thank you, mister petrov.

2008-09-12T12:58:00.002-05:00

um. hi. is this thing on?

i was on call for work for two weeks, and now i'm having surgery next week. so, i have been a little, shall we say, busy. okay, frantic. but next tuesday afternoon i will have a new knee.

i cannot, sadly, make any promises about more frequent updates; i will be heavily drugged and doing pt and tired for a few weeks. but i will try to post something shortly after. it will probably contain the word "ow" a lot.

2008-08-28T14:18:00.001-05:00

Barack Obama will cut taxes for over 95% of American families.
(even though more than half of American think he'll raise their taxes)

just fyi.

2008-08-15T10:30:00.002-05:00

arrrgh. darned layout is too skinny for the comic.

go read today's xkcd

antivirus software? on voting machines?

you're doing it horribly wrong.

uh, yeah.