This post is from Animal of the Day.  That critter looks like it went crazy with bleach and hair dye.  Cute though.

This is the most detailed account I have seen of the war in Afghanistan in quite some time.  It is a very gripping read actually.  It lays out quite clearly how things are playing out, the hardships, and what is at stake.

I've been trying to find the rules for dependents (as in who can be declared as and receive the benefits for being one) in the USAF with limited luck - everything I've seen already assumes that you know who your dependents are. I'm not American, so if it's a national standard thing as opposed to a USAF thing, that information would be great too.

Basically, I need to know if a sibling, minor or otherwise, can be declared a dependent of an active duty soldier for the purposes of insurance/Tricare access and tuition transfer and so on. The scenario is an active duty Staff Sergeant with two younger siblings (both minors when she enlisted, one with a child) and one living parent unable to work (disability). Would she be able to declare her minor siblings as dependents, given that she's the sole official wage earner in the family? How about her sister's baby? Would the siblings need to be formally emancipated from their father in order for her to declare them as her dependents, or is the entire scenario impossible from the start?

I really, really do love my cats. Actually, I love cats in general. Cats are really such neat creatures. Plus, I love the way I can lay on the couch with a whole collect of Nature's Most Efficient Killing Machines.

And, you know... they really are. Yes, they are cute, and they are cuddly... they are very, very funny sometimes, and they are beautiful. But, make no mistake... they are ruthless carnivores.

I can respect that.

Somehow, I think that element of danger makes them just that more interesting...

You know... when I was a kid, I had a whole collection of carnivorous plants. I found carnivorous plants a LOT more interesting than the regular kind.

I'm really not right.

Today, at work, I discovered that there is an element of danger in my new job. It seems, some of the adjusters that I call are really kind of wound up. And I called a couple of them today that really flew off the handle at me because they thought I was some kind of bill collector. They wouldn't even let me talk! All I am trying to do is verify patient information so that we can arrange for surgeries! Well, anyway, once that happened, I was in a better mood. It seems, I need a little bit of danger in my life to keep my blood pumping.

I almost forgot, I owe brewsternorth 100 words in celebration of Fake Birthday!

( Here they is. Exactly 100! )

Nobody wants to cross paths with their old high school flames, at least that's what I've heard. I think there's an exception to that rule and this doesn't apply to people who might've been heartbroken over the split between their "first loves". So, the story starts more than twenty years after the relationship, and considering that the two love birds in question were adolescents, they've changed dramatically in their appearance so much so that neither one could be expected to recognize the other. Nevertheless, by happenstance, the two cross paths.

The heartbroken of the two thinks that he recognizes her, yet he doesn't acknowledge nor seek affirmation that she is her by simply asking "do I know you from somewhere". It is really moments after this encounter that the protagonist conflict is revealed. The backstory, however, must convey sexual frustration for this character because it was a result of his unfaithfulness to his gf that causes the break-up way back when. Even though he's been in and out of very few relationships since then, because nobody seems to meet his expectations, he won't even try to pursue anything more meaningful than casual sex.

On the other hand, the catalyst of his lost love's menopausal behavior upon learning that her high school sweetheart is still hung over her, gives credence to the idea that their encounter at the beginning of the movie was not coincidental. How do I convey a backstory for the protagonist as someone who's transgression transformed him to vow never to fall out of love with the girl whom he's out to prove was not a figment of his imagination after seeing her double twenty+ years later?

Google has failed me!

I am looking for a cheat code to get over the locked bridges in GTA IV. Help please.

I was intrigued by this quiz which attempts to rate various aspects of one's life.  Most of it is reasonably apt.  I note, however, that advice to "live within your means" is only sensible if one has  some means to begin with.( Read more... )

Hello! I'm having a holiday sale! New items were added and some prices lowered. I am also staring a new policy and will NOT charge PayPal fees!!!!



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shabondamasale

Kay

One of my fishbowl poems, "The Mummy Child," recently appeared in Star*Line 32.5 September-October 2009.  This poem came out of the October 2008 poetry fishbowl (horror theme) and was inspired by a prompt from dulcinbradbury.  (Speculative poems appearing in conventional markets are eligible for the Rhysling Award; nominations will open for that early next year.)  Thank you all for your encouragement and inspiration.

 

I really, REALLY hope I'm not the one with this problem.

So, I dear friend of mine bought me Tekken 6 for Playstation 3 as an antecipated Christmas gift because he couldn't take hearing me fangirlize about Jin Kazama and stuff. The first thing I did as soon as I got home was, of course, turning the PS3 on, doing all the required system updates and run to Offline - Arcade Mode. I chose Jin Kazama and went on playing... until I got to Azazel.

HELL, WHAT THE F*** WAS THAT ALL ABOUT?

I can't beat him. I just CAN'T beat him!! I don't know if I'm a n00b, if I chose the wrong character to begin with (is it just me or the controls are very similar to Virtua Fighter 5 and Dead or Alive?), if I'm too slow or what. No matter how many times I try, I CAN'T BEAT HIM!!!!

I tried switching to Devil Jin and lost the fight when Azazel was with about 30% of his life. Then, tried a couple of times more with Jin and failed miserably.

I'm frustrated. Seriously. The only game that was able to make me feel a sore loser like that was Soul Calibur 3.

So, I'm asking nearly in tears: does anybody have hints to go through Azazel? Also, is there anyone else feeling frustrated with this boss or am I really a n00b?

So there appear to be many fans here. I would love to have some people to play with that won't drag me into poison. Tag is Gwen_Soul.

It truly is a little detail, but one of those things that can be fairly important.

Anyway, I have Googled my brains out, as well as dragging a few books down off the shelves, and been directed to a book at Amazon that might actually be helpful, only it won't be available until January... And basically have gotten nowhere.

So, my question is: Would blackout restrictions have still been in effect in New York City, December 1944? What I have found is that these restrictions continued in London until 1945, but I'm wondering if they might have been lifted earlier for the East Coast of the United States. My story works either way, if they were still in blackout mode or not; it's just a matter of hitting the right atmosphere.

Thanks!

My story is set in New York City, in the very near future, but the abduction took place in California (specifically the Inland Empire) in the mid-nineties, between 1995 and 1997 (haven't settled on a year yet).

My character Olivia was a victim of parental kidnapping when she was eleven. She hasn't had any contact with her father since. Now, I can find lots of information on international child abductions and on parental abductions post-divorce, but Olivia's parents were still married at the time (ie, her mother had custody) and she was taken across state lines, but remained within the US. I know that California has a law against parental child abductions, but I can't find out when it was enacted or whether it covers cases where the parents were still married.

So. My gut feeling is that what Olivia's mother did is very, very illegal. However, I don't know how illegal it is, or when it became illegal (when her mother kept her away from her father past a certain number of days?). Any information would be helpful.

Searches tried: "parental child abduction," "interstate child abduction," "child abduction facts," "child abduction California," and various combinations of the phrases "parental", "interstate" and "abduction."

Can the King of Hell fall in Love? Rated T-M
Romance/Fantasy/Angst
In Progress

http://www.fictionpress.com/s/2599097/1/Lucifer_Oh_Lucifer

(crossed to my own journal)

The following is mostly a detailed rant, and mostly about one book, so if you skip it you're not missing much.

What has happened to editing for professionally published fiction? Don't the houses care any more?

This summer, I finally got around to reading Christopher Moore's Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story. This is Moore's third novel, and was published by Simon & Schuster, who are no small press.

So what's with all the typos? The book is rife with them, from end to end. This might be understandable from a self-published book or vanity press, but I can't imagine how S&S would turn out such a poorly edited book.

I've just finished Max Brooks's World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War. There are much fewer typos here (I may have noticed two), but this book suffers greatly from lack of proper editing on several levels.
( Warning: Spoilers Ahead )