Tonight, I was going down to the airport to pick up a friend for two weeks of sun and relaxation.
But, I'm not going to.
I'm not going to because instead of a vacation, this week my friend is burying her brother, who committed suicide Friday. He leaves behind a wife and two small children.
She is in a state of shock. She was close to her older brother, and she lost her father two years ago to an illness. No one saw this coming. While he was having problems with his wife, they didn't appear to be ones that were insurmountable. But he hung himself and now, two children are without their father, a wife is now a widow, and a sister and brother are without their big brother.
I feel helpless. I live two thousand miles away, too far to offer any physical support. I've already sent a sympathy card, and talked to her via IM last night. I only know her brother through her IMs, and he seemed like a nice guy.
I just wish I could do more, but here, I am little more then an observer. Going there is impossible, for several reasons. I know she's hurting, and I can't do more then offer a few words of support and comfort. I am also a little depressed for her, knowing that instead of joy this week, she's having to work though the worse someone can know -- the loss of a close family member.
So, why bother? I just needed to vent, to do it in public. There are so very few people I can call friend, and when one hurts, I hurt along with them. This girl has been through so much -- a traumatic experience during High school, her father passing away, and now the loss of her brother. And here I am, unable to do anything real. A card and a few typed words seem so pale, so little. I just needed to put my feelings down in some form. Life can be cruel sometimes, and a lot of times, we can only stand by and watch events unfold and wishing we could do something more.
Her brother is at peace now, but I think it will be a long time before my friend and her family are at peace. I just wish I could take some of that burden from her and place it upon myself. But I am left with only a prayer for his spirit, and a hope that my friend can overcome it.
Craig

Gack. But it looks to be real, this time. Can't find any details yet aside from his blog page being slashdotted and his Wikipedia entry noting the basics...
--
"I give you the beautiful... the talented... the tirelessly atomic-powered...
R!
DOROTHY!
WAYNERIGHT!
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

I and my roomate and his girlfriend are in a middle of a legal battle with our landlord.
It all started about 2 years ago when 2 things happened.
1. Someone in our housing rental complex filed a complaint with the Los Angeles Department of Health and Services due to repairs that are needed to everyone's houses.
2. My roomate (who holds the rental agreement) forgot to renew the yearly lease. Making us go month to month.
3. So, the upshot is that our lndlord gave us notice that starting the beginning of the year, the rent was going from 750 to 1000 in 3 months time and then 1400 after that. And no, they're not going to effect any repairs to our place.
We went to court in March and the case was dismissed. Round 1 to us. Our lawyer wanted to press ahead with a civil suit, but my roomate reached a verbal agreement with our landlord that the rent remained at current level (imagine my horror when I heard about it later).
So at the end of August, they served notice of eviction on us due to the fact we haven't paid the extra rent increases.
We went to court aftr Labor Day. Our idiot lawyer forgot to do his homework and the judg ruled in favor of the landlord. Our lawyer filed an appeal , but he didn't tell us until this Friday. Unfortunately, we already vacated the house!
Now, there's a Los Angeles city ordinance that states that until DHS signs off any remedies needed to the structure, a landlord cannot enact any rent increases until 60 days after the clearance, nor can they evict.
So our lawyer is going to talk to the judge with his homework in hand. The landlord's lawyer is not going to contest the appeal (which tells you how bad their case is now).
So round 3 is coming up..I'll let you guys now by Thursday.
__________________
Into terror!,  Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell

Just got back from NDK, and the audience favorite this year (out of 50 or so videos aired for the contest) was this little ditty.
In all honesty, this is probably the funniest damn thing related to Death Note ever.---
Mr. Fnord
http://fnord.sandwich.net/
http://www.jihad.net/
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

Here's the Slashdot article about how a Kent Hovind backed group has gotten the Rational Response Squad banned from YouTube. Thoughts? Comments?
--The Twisted One"Welcome to Fanboy Hell. You will be spending eternity here, in a small room with Jar-Jar Binks and Dobby the house-elf."
"If you
wish to converse with me, define your
terms."

--Voltaire

Having just watched a Naruto/"Born to Hand Jive" video on YouTube I have to wonder if Doug would be able to use the song to manipulate chakra using the Naruto-verse system (Although he'd probably have to visit the world first and may have to force the lyrics the first time).
Of course, sense he hasn't actually studied Naruto-verse jutsu the easiest thing would be if the power gave him the Sharingan eye for the duration of the song. That way the song would still have a fair amount of potential use even when he leaves the world and can no longer learn new jutsu.
----------------------------------------------------

"Anyone can be a winner if their definition of victory is flexible enough." - The DM of the Rings XXXV

But cool enough that everyone should read it.
I'm not a physicist by any means so I'm not certain how viable this is. But it is damn cool.
Between this and the GAMMA RAY ANNIHILATION LASERS the world is becoming more and more awesome.
-----------------
Epsilon
So how long until that little boy Japanese robot is equipped with these?

Ladies and gentlemen... presenting Zero Punctuation.
its a collection of audio visual game reviews done by Yahtzee Croshaw over at the Escapist mag
Warning NSFW for bad language and probability of letting loose gut wrenching laughter during review

www.escapistmagazine.com/...unctuation_______________________________
We're definitely playing this game wrong. I thought Vampire was supposed to be a game of personal horror, not about ninja magic-carpet airstrikes at night.
- A friend after playing a session of Dark Ages Vampire.
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away. THERE IS ONLY WAR!
-Same friend.
_________________________________
Take Your Candle, Go Light Your World.

...for the last couple days.
I was in an auto accident on Tuesday night.
Now don't worry -- I'm fine. Combined speed of the two vehicles couldn't have been more than 5 or 10 mph, the damage to my car is minor, and the damage to me just doesn't exist.
It's the insurance stuff that's taking up my time. So if I drop out of sight for a day or so, that's why.

-- Bob
---------
The Internet Is For Norns.

Just because the judge wanted the RIAA to show some... what was the word, again?... oh, yes: "evidence".
This is the first time I've heard of someone who didn't even bother to show up in court not losing the case, too.
Inquirer story

-Rob Kelk
"Read Or Die: not so much a title as a way of life." - Justin Palmer, 6 June 2007
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012