I just sent this feedback on the 2016 Arisia over to the feedback address. drwex suggested that I post it publicly:

I rediscovered a photo from a trip to New Hampshire last fall, and worked on it over the last couple of days. I have two different crops of the same photo. Here I post the two, and ask my humble audience to weigh in: which works better?

( cut for large imagesCollapse )

This morning in room 1244, the lovely tigira and I are hosting a morning breakfast of bagels, homemade cream cheese (plain, chive, garlic, or cinnamon), dairy-free bagel topping, drinks, and company.

We'll be going from now until panels start at ten AM, so stop by room 1244 whenever you like.

Over the weekend, I took a trip up to the southernmost coast of Maine with some of my photography club. ( Cut for your convenience...Collapse )

On my commute in this morning, the phrase, "fortune favors the bold" went through my head a few times. Eventually, I realized...

It's true that fortune favors the bold; however, misfortune favors the bold just as much.

tigira is leafing through our compiled cookbook, and encounters a recipe page that had been used as scratch paper for a shopping list.

tigira: Sweetie, why does your shopping list say, "shrooms, goats, and cocaine?"
meadmaker: I don't know... because I thought it was funny?

Though this is old enough that I have no clue, eventually I guessed that I was making stuffed mushrooms with goat cheese as part of the stuffing, and that effloresense wanted some diet coke as well.

I think I know a bunch of people who would be interested in a groupon to Whole Foods Market. Well, it's livingsocial instead of groupon, but you get the idea. You pay $10 to get a $20 voucher. If you're interested, go here: http://livingsocial.com/deals/123805?ref=conf-jp&rpi=27126785.

In case you haven't heard, some police forces have begun to arrest people who are videotaping them under state wiretapping laws. The basic idea is that the wiretapping law requires a person to obtain consent of all parties being recorded before the recording happens.

This concept is disturbing, especially when you consider the revelations within recent years of abuse by police that were brought to light only by citizens videotaping the police actions. From Rodney King to Oscar Grant being shot at a BART station in 2009, we see the importance of using these recordings to hold our police to a high standard of conduct.

( Discussing a specific Massachusetts caseCollapse )

I just saw a tree across the street, smoking. I think it's from touching some power lines. I just called 911 about it, and the conversation went pretty much like this:

911: "911, your call will be recorded. What is your emergency?"
Me: "Hi, I see a tree across the street..."
tigira notices that there is a fire response SUV pulling up to it...
Me: "Nevermind, the fire department just pulled up. Sorry for wasting your time."

It's nice to have emergency responders, doubly so when they're on top of their game.