Porthole

Off, off damn hair!

9:30 a.m. and 33 degrees and dreary. Me too.

Shaved my beard off... most of it. My skin has 'issues' at times and needs a periodic airing out. Should be above freezing for a couple days.

No blister yet where I burned myself. That's good news.

Wrote a sonnet ... which is fine, but it doesn't seem appropiate for the contest I wrote it for. Contests aren't always clear about rating nor acceptable content. In this case my poem feels edgy in a way unsuitable for Hallmark-Christians or the LDS Relief Society. It's not E.

But it doesn't sound nice to put it that way ... My daily life is usually E, but characters and poems aren't necessarily. Guess I'm still rebelling against some puritanical heritage from my maternal grandfather's family.

39 degrees at 2 p.m.

Made a sammich out of grilled chicken thigh and hummus mixed with smoked ham.

Sitting inside. Have seen some local birds. Nothing interesting, it's just that they are out after the Deep Freeze.

Round 114 of "Crack Kraken's Code Contest [Round Over]"  starts. If I can crack the third word I may be able to solve this quicker than last time. There are no repeat words, and only one two-letter and three-letter word each. So... if I make a good guess I might get lucky. Otherwise...

Back to reading and dithering.

Mostly dithering. 40 degrees at 4:54.

blimprider is offering a course. The intro: "Invalid Item" 

Which got me thinking. I posted:

Well... it's obvious that I need to read your book. Then imagine an alt-history with air-pirates. Is alcohol allowed as a fuel (like in sake)? I imagine a Taiwan freeing itself from Japan (WW2 didn't happen quite as we are told) ... kinda silkpunk meets steampunk without the dark dirty skies of coal (except from China). Since Taiwan has little oil, coal or gas the conversion to wind, solar, thermal, bio-waste would take place sooner or later (IRL... later *Sad*). It has plenty of water (fresh water can be seasonal) as it's an island. Of course I could just place it in Pittsburgh complete with black skies and the steam engine whistle (like in my childhood).

The real issue is April. If I start to travel I won't have as much spare time.

His book (placed in alt-historic Afrika):

Invalid Item  This item number is not valid. #2189142 by Not Available.

Anna Marie Carlson asks "Why are so many people talking about the world coming to an end?"

I would make a quick two part answer. 1. They don't want to change or feel incapable of becoming the change they need to be. Ghandi's “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” demands work and, wanting to live nostalgically in the Past, feel they don't have to try. 2. Although found globally it's a very Western doctrine of believing in and praying for the End, absolving them of any responsibilty to improve Life in the here-and-now... because they are better than all the un-holy people who will perish.

To me? It's a cop-out (they are either super-religious apocalyptic or believe in nothing i.e. nihilistic), but don't bother pointing that out. Since They (the religious ones) are the Only Ones who Know the Truth... why argue?

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