Hey, did you like the icons I linked to a few entries below? Todd is running another free icon day (although donations are more than welcome). Strike now before requests are closed. He made a comment on the other post about being interested in breaking 200 requests, now that would be a mass of icons. :}

Want another sample? A while back he asked for suggested Griffons and other animal mixes. Here are the 35 Mixed-Up Critters. I was the one to cruelly suggest blending a hummingbird and fox. *ebil grin*

I had a sudden thought come to mind of a series of commercials involving the Priceline De-Negotiator. In which people brag to the camera about the great deals they made -- only to have mirror-universe Shatner arrive and cause the deals to be broken.

"What! Four days at a five star resort for only $76 a night? I don't think so. You deal has been De!-nego!-tiated!"

"Wait! No, don't say... No, please, that wasn't me that was the de-negotiator! Wait! Don't hang up!"

Like the icon on this post? He's one of my characters in the Mars Academy RPG, Pithani the student and student-librarian. He's a pretty serious student although he can be playful (he is one of the youngest students on campus), but in the library he's a serious guy.

He was drawn as part of djinni's 5th Free Icon Day. You can see more of his icon day work at his post Every Icon Day. Just be sure your computer is ready to load 623 icons. :}

And if you like those, check out his comics Ekwara, Crimson Flag which he does with virmir and Dracula which is based on the Bram Stoker novel.


This is also a sign of how watching nifty people can lead you to other nifty people, as it was a post by the also quite nifty haikujaguar that first pointed me in his direction.

(And how nifty, the first LJ spam comment that I've caught myself... DEE-LEET!)

Dear Pat Robertson,

Please never attempt to represent me on matters of faith, on matters of national pride, or on any other matter whatsoever. For if you had listened to even the slightest grain of true faith, wisdom, or empathy you would not have uttered those hateful, shameful, and Christ hating words. You claim to be Christian and to believe in God. May I recommend that this would be a good time to close your own mouth, to go into private as directed by your claimed savior, and there to beg forgiveness and ask for wisdom and empathy.

For, to borrow and gently modify a phrase from your fellow paleo-conservatives, when you act like this the devil wins. These words do nothing to advance the word of God and everything to aid that which is destructive of anything humanly or spiritually good.

(Note, this is in the voice of a character I invented some years ago known as The Traveler. A guy who discovered how to hunt out gates between realities and left home without a backward glance, edit the second: Forget a link. You can find Flight of the Godkin Griffin at Flight of the Godkin Griffin)


Traveler's Report
or In Which I Read Someone Else's Diary

by a traveler of the many worlds, occasional hero, occasional troublemaker, and more frequent vagabond in search of quiet


Part the First, from entry 9 October 2003 to entry 23 October 2003

An interesting character. A flier, retired soldier, and a contemplative one. This Angharad Godkin of the Sunblood Cliffs looks to be an interesting person to follow. I shall just hope that she is not to irked if she finds that I have started reading this journal I have found. And dear, I hope you make the right choice. If this traveler has learned two things about armor they would be don't forget you have it and don't trust too much in it.

Aha, a commander. It seem this diarist is someone of status. I shall doubly hope she takes no offense at my reading this. Offending military officers has rarely done me good. Hmm, oof, these folk believe in some form of eugenics? That also has rarely been a good sign for me. Perhaps I should leave this diary behind and start looking for a safe feeling gate... Ow, then again perhaps I should read a bit more of her misfortune. Seems her army knows the same trick all the others do. At least they are being somewhat decent about it.

Oh dear. Overly accommodating superiors. Run Angharad, run! No, I suppose you won't. Don't seem like the kind to do so. Even if finding the nearest safe gate has been a frequent solution of mine.

Oho... Oh forget it, who am I to judge on romantic matters. At least you aren't setting into immediate mindless rutting. Oh hey, that's almost the turn of phrase you used.

Um, wait. Wait. There's a whole bloody unit that has never trained with the sword? Bah! I was right the first time around. Run and don't look back.

About a month ago haikujaguar put the following in one of her posts:

• Cylithria Dubois, Marine Corps Novelist. She puts all your excuses for not doing something you say you want to do to shame. Absolutely amazing story.

I bumped across that link while poking about older posts on my friends list and gave it a follow. Now there is a story. A NaNoWriMo 50k completed while part of a forward observation team in northern Iraq. Completed mostly in evenings, after sundown, in a place where it would not be a great idea to be basking in the glow of a laptop screen...

Two weeks off, you know, I bet I can get more of Unquiet Past written during this.

So I run across another article about photographers being harassed by police and find myself thinking once again that in these cases the officers should be given two choices. 1, admit to dereliction of duty and be drummed out. Or, 2, admit to incompetence and be taken off active duty and be sent back for retraining.

Really, even if terrorists were prone to standing around blatantly taking photographs, they are so outnumbered by actual professional photographers, amateur photographers, tourists, and anyone else you can think of who would be innocently taking photos that to use photography as an indicator that someone needs to be questioned is utter stupidity. The ratio of false positives to actual positives is going to be so lopsided that frankly I think even under the US Constitution's strict definition of treason, you could actually make an argument that it is indeed 'aid' to the enemy. Has even one person anywhere in the world who was stopped solely because they were taking photographs turned out to be a terrorist? How can this kind of time wasting on the part of those who are tasked with the job of protecting us be anything but dereliction of duty? Frankly I see it is no less intentional time wasting than if they were to find a quiet spot and pull out a game boy for a few minutes of Tetris or Mario.

Although at least that last option would have the positive of not being harassment that will cause a group of people to start viewing the police as an enemy.

Warning! All insects read notice! Entering my home shall be considered agreement to the following terms.

*All cockroaches squished on sight! Entering home shall be considered consent to be force fed noxious substances.
*Spiders shall stay in inaccessible corners for maximum longevity. Crawling on any body part shall be considered a request for flattening.
**NOTE: No mercy nor quarter shall be granted to Black Widow spiders.
*Attention flies, this residence shall purchase and employ miniature scale anti-aircraft style anti-insect devices as soon as they enter the market. Until then you shall have to settle for being swatted the old fashion way.

*Geckos are welcome to dine in this domicile. However, please go outside to take care of waste management issues.


How long until I can buy a real HoiHoi-san?

Well, I have skipped a number of writing opportunities that I shouldn't have, and I also went a little non-linear leaving some gaps in what I do have written. I do however have enough to post part 2A of The Unquiet Past. Which starts with a nightmare and then gives Doris a bit of a break (for now).

Disclaimer! "Caution! If you start a fanfic with a humorous disclaimer, people may well expect you to keep using humorous disclaimers!" "Hmm? Oh! You mean a 'someone else invented this universe' disclaimer? But I mentioned that in part 1. But it has been over two weeks. So listen up! Terinu is a really nifty webcomic with writing and art by chaypeta. Fun action in space, interesting characters, Australia as one of the major powers of the far future Earth, fox-like aliens including the ever nifty ace pilot Ru-Ofanius 'Rufus' Brushtail, an orphan with a mysterious past, a threat thought defeated... Well, why are you still here, go read it. Finished? Okay, then here is my contribution. These are not the characters from the comic, rather it's my own imagining of a corner of the vulpine homeworld. Can't stand a story with anthropomorphic foxes in it? Well fie on you. Oh, and jeriendhal first presented the Sharpears family in his Terinu prequel fanfic, in part 1 Doris was named Sharpear, obviously a failure on the part of the transciptionist. He has been chastened."

Ah, there. Thoroughly disclaimed, yes? Very well, The Unquiet Past part 2A under the cut.

( The Unquiet Past: Part 2A in which Doris is troubled in her sleep and goes off script. )

Although a three million euro ($4.5m) bail isn't cheap, I have the suspicion it won't be that hard for him to raise.

And that's all I have to say for now.