Becca Stareyes

So, I'm trying to think of a Halloween costume. Here are my criteria, in order from strongest to least strong:

1. No wigs. Hats are okay, and makeup is okay, and I might even go for hair extensions, but I don't feel like putting down the money for a quality wig. (And I don't want to deal with a cheap wig -- someone else can tell the story about how Integra Hellsing suddenly developed short, dark hair because my cheap wig gave up the ghost around lunchtime of Day I of AnimeIowa)

2. Something I can wear to CJAS's cosplay contest. Which means anime or manga character. Maybe video game. Probably not anything from Western fandoms or webcomics.

3. Something that is recognizable as something* by the mundanes, in case I go out with my work friends, or decide to wear the costume to campus or something. By which, I mean, they might not recognize Kenshin Himura, but the sword and outfit look like 'samurai'.

* Something reasonably specific, not 'what the hell costume is that?'

( Current Ideas )

Also, I found this blog post by Mike Brown that pretty much sums up the whole planet debate. It makes the point that scientists had two classifications: 'round & geologically varied (plus the gas giants, which are round and atmospherically varied with interesting interiors)' versus 'not round and & impact-dominated geology' and 'single objects in distinct orbits' versus 'clouds of similar objects in similar orbits'. Both are useful, and a scientist might deal with one more than the other (a geologist cares more about the first, to the point of even throwing in moons, while a dynamicist the second), and asking 'which is a better classification scheme' is silly, because they are both good and useful things. The IAU wasn't asked that -- they were asked, which classification scheme should be used as planet versus not-a-planet. Which is really a judgment call.

I was thinking the same thing, but this post explains it better. I was thinking about it because I noticed Dr. Bell (Martian geologist) has a 'Save Pluto' bumper sticker pinned to his bulletin board. In retaliation (I assume), Dr. Margot (asteroid and Kuiper Belt dynamicist) put up a 'Save Pallas' sign on his bulletin board. (Guess what both of them think of the IAU's definition? Go on, guess.)

We also have a new official dwarf planet -- Pluto, Ceres and Eris can welcome Makemake (mah-keh-mah-keh) to their numbers. First dwarf planet named after a non-Greco-Roman god, also! (Makemake was the creation deity of Rapa Nui (aka Easter Island) -- Makemake was discovered near Easter, and informally called Easterbunny.)

So, back in 2000, when I was but a wee Becca Stareyes (read: I hadn't graduated high school), one of the big internet memes* was the HamsterDance. Soon, everyone was making pages full of dancing .gifs of cute animals, Jesus, and even the people in Election 2000.

Technology has advanced since then.

* Before anyone but the informational theory geeks knew what a meme was.

So, I bit the bullet and bought a permanent account. I'll come up with a snazzy layout later. And maybe a moon theme.

But, hey, this means I can do polls now. ^_^ I'm trying to figure out what of my writing I should work on next -- I want to write at least a chapter on a longer fic before going back to shorter fics. I've got two WIPs, and some stuff in planning.

( Read more... )

I am tempted to start a non-journaling blog for my various political/philosophical rantings -- mostly because I don't know how much you all care, since this one is mostly fandom + real life. I guess it seems like everyone has a blog. I mean, my dad has a blog. Granted, it's mostly the birds he's photographed and rants about how he's not sure which he dislikes worse -- those darn liberals, the crazy fundies*, or the University of Nebraska's administration + athletic department.

(My father is an agnostic Republican. For those not familiar with American politics, this makes him very lonely, as the Republicans have discovered that evangelical Christians make a nice stable voter base. Also, Nebraska = big footballl school.)

I also got a Facebook. Since I've been trying to keep my fandom and real life separate (it's mostly failing), I'd prefer not to link it here, but people who care can look me up. I'm still not sure what the point is.

It says something about me that it takes me a half hour to get from Lolcats on Journalfen to looking for free fractal-generating programs, and all the steps involved made (some degree of) sense. I blame Wikipedia.

http://community.livejournal.com/fanthropology/355022.html?style=mine

I don't know if this is legit, a copy-cat person, or what, but I thought it was worth sharing. Could we get an internet detective on this?