Watched the Ellison doc last night

Dreams with Sharp Teeth is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.  Mike, Paul, Keith, Jeff and I had a glorious evening of pizza, beer, G&Ts, wasps drowning themselves in our drinks (this being August in Vancouver and virtually impossible to avoid), me printing out songs of mine for Paul to put in his songbook, me and Paul hanging the Japanese door hanging in the R. John Caspell Memorial Pinball Parlour, pinball (Great Finagle, but how much better that thing works when it’s level), bodywork, cheesecake and fellowship.

Dreams with Sharp Teeth is a must see if you’re into Neil Gaiman, BSG, or the English language.  The initial ‘interview’ sequence between Robin Williams and Harlan Ellison is PURE COMEDY GOLD. Also Richard Thompson does the soundtrack.  Once again, how much do I miss sharing stuff like this with John.

Now I am trying to wheedle Jeff into getting milk so I can make waffles.  I haven’t made waffles in ages.

Paul and I said to each other last night how much we missed small group ministry.  You think it’s Newage Nonsense, but it’s not – it’s major amounts of stress relief for your poor ol’ brain.  I remember the group meditations as being just about the only thing that kept me sane during a very trying period of my life.  Earlier in the day Paul came by and remonstrated with me about my lack of a rear view mirror on my bike (as well as to pick up the sewing kit, which is going back and forth between our houses like a sorry assed ping pong ball) and then he went out and not only bought one for me and installed it free gratis he got me a couple of really good bungie cords too.   All demonstrations of interest in my safety and comfort gratefully accepted, thanks.  As soon as the weather cleared in the midafternoon I went to get beer on the bike, and what an awesome ride that was, the temp being perfect, and the only hitch was when I tried to clear the intersection at Mary and Edmonds and nearly got crushed between two cars, and pulled a muscle in my calf.  It still stings – it’s a consequence of my ongoing L5S1 nonsense in my back, with the sciatic nerve pinging like a gas station bell – but I am taking painkillers PRN and otherwise ignoring it.

Also, I watched a DVD about church growth from a U*U perspective (man, it was interesting!) and had a long, interesting conversation with the minister.  Also, I practiced guitar for two hours and worked out the chords for Catnip on My Shoes, which I had never done before, so I can actually perform it in public now.

And here I was thinking I didn’t DO anything yesterday.

London Cops is Dumb.

Drug addict shot at 19 times by one London ON cop…. do you suppose the cop hit him even once? But he managed to hit three houses!!! Cop should be suspended for failing to demonstrate firearms proficiency.

Reminds me of two London cop stories from my fabled youth.  In one story, a man wrestled a cop’s gun away from him and shot him in the head at point blank range.  The cop didn’t die; he went back on duty after he recovered.

The second story…. Cops are called to a ‘there is a man with a gun inside this house’ call.  They try to talk to him.  They lob tear gas in and storm the place.  There is no one in the house.

Not all London cop stories are bad.  If I can get permission from the participants, I may relate them.

—original Star Trek theme —

Okay, now that I’ve cognitively set you up for this request, look what came through my inbox just now….

Loki, I know you never sign petitions but this is a MUST.

Hello from two CICLOPS Alliance members and fellow fans of Cassini!

For those of you who may have missed the big news, CICLOPS imaging director Carolyn Porco recently served as a science consultant on this year’s blockbuster feature-length film, Star Trek. In subsequent posts to the CICLOPS message boards (see the comments at http://ciclops.org/view_event.php?id=109), a few of you brought up the idea of petitioning to get Carolyn a cameo spot in the sequel, which is currently in pre-production and will likely release in 2011. In response to those comments, a couple of us put our brains together and decided to draft a real petition! We showed this to Carolyn, and she loved the idea, saying she’d be “honored to wear the Federation uniform.”

To move things along, she graciously agreed to let us send this note to her friends and supporters, fans of Cassini, and all CICLOPS Alliance members as a call to action. You will see that the petition says–and I’m sure you would all agree–that there are many reasons why Carolyn deserves a spot in front of the camera. So I urge you to please get out there and make your voices heard! If we can get 10,000 people to heed our call, I don’t think there’s any way that producer J.J. Abrams (with whom Carolyn worked on the 2009 film) will be able to ignore it!


To sign the petition (and leave a comment, if you like!), simply go to:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/dr-carolyn-porco-deserves-a-star-trek-cameo

and sign up. And be sure to spread the word to everyone and anyone you know!

Thanks in advance for your support.

Let’s make it so!

Maia Weinstock
David Holmes

Dream about John

Actually, it was a nightmare; I don’t feel strong enough to recount it.  It was not a visitation dream; there was nothing positive about it.  After the main part of the dream I drank colloidal silver in a bar and everybody wanted to know what I was having; the drink had a remarkable texture and would form a skin unless you gently shook it once in a while.  I still feel disgusted and shaky about the dream, though; if this is what going back on a vitamin regimen does I may be in for a rough couple of nights.