| Birthday! |
[Jun. 19th, 2008|05:35 pm] |
I am twenty-eight today! |
|
|
| KIMMITY! |
[Jun. 1st, 2008|06:01 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | birthdays, kim | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | celebratory | ] |
| [ | listening to |
| | birds singing (for kimmy, of course) | ] |
<sings>
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) kimkali
Happy birthday to you!
<sings>
Twenty-nine years ago today the world became an immeasurably better place for your presence in it.
You are fantabulous.
Love always,
Me (and the Sheeps, who demand capitalisation) |
|
|
| May old acquaintance be forgot. |
[Dec. 30th, 2007|10:00 pm] |
I do not want to be friends with or associate with those who perpetrate by action or condone by inaction abominable and unconscionable behaviour, attitude, dishonesty, disingenousness, agendas, and betrayal. For starters.
If this is not you, I am open to being incorrect about tangential individuals; you can contact me if this is the case, but don't expect me to trust you. At least initially. |
|
|
| Another way for Americans to phone me. |
[Nov. 30th, 2006|08:09 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | communication, expat | ] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Home | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  good | ] |
| [ | listening to |
| | Kim watching telly in the lounge | ] |
Evidently, there is a company in Iowa called Future Phone offering free international phone calls to 40 different countries, including to the UK. One only pays whatever it would cost them to call Iowa normally, so for those who have inclusive long-distance plans it would be a free call and for others it would just be charged as domestic long-distance. Calls can be made from a cellphone or landline. They only allow calls to landlines and not mobiles from some countries (not sure if the UK is included in that) but I'm not sure if that's true for the UK.
So none of you Americans have any excuse not to call me anymore! :P
I don't know anyone who has used it (I heard about it in ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) expats) but reviews from reputable sources (including the New York Times) say it's legitimate and actually works. Let me know what you think if you try it out? |
|
|
| At least these ones are moderately interesting. |
[Nov. 29th, 2006|07:21 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | daily life, memes | ] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Home | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | awake, dammit | ] |
| [ | listening to |
| | Kim's alarm going off | ] |
I am currently experiencing a particular bad bout of insomnia, having laid in bed for hours getting more and more frustrated at the lack of dreamscape. There's so much running through my head but I'm not actually awake enough to do anything productive, so you get some memes instead. I was tagged for these by avariael back in January of this year.
( Seven Things Meme )
( Guilty Pleasures Meme ) |
|
|
| E-Petition for Overturning Blood Ban |
[Nov. 23rd, 2006|07:09 pm] |
Sign a petition for removing the ban on gay and bisexual men donating blood in the UK
(And, one would assume, removing the ban for women who have had sex with gay or bisexual men.)
It's not the most well-written petition I've seen. I wonder where the statistic that there would be 1/100th more of a risk of blood-borne infection in transfusions if gay and bi men were allowed to donate came from and I don't think that really helps this particular cause, nor do I think it's helpful to have grammatical errors within the details.
I also think that the signatories should be checked better as I doubt "Madonna Ciccone" signed (isn't it Ciccione and doesn't she use Ritchie these days anyway?) and "Everyone has Aids" is not a real name.
Concerns aside, I think this is a worthwhile petition. It certainly can only help remove the National Blood Service (NBS) ban or it will do nothing at all; it's not going to hinder other organisations and individuals who are trying to get the ban overturned. It is something that's long overdue. I personally would like to be able to donate blood without having to lie about it -- which I refuse to do.
So I've signed the petition and I hope you do as well. (As long as you are a citizen or resident of the UK; citizens living overseas do count, so all you British expats should sign as well!) |
|
|
| US Election Results: That's All She Wrote |
[Nov. 10th, 2006|05:12 am] |
As if you didn't already know, Allen has conceded defeat in Virginia which means that the Democrats will now control the Senate.
wendolen has posted some amusing images here (with links to more in the comments).
As an explanation for their "thumpin'", the Republicans blame election losses on Democrats.
Republican officials are blaming tonight's GOP losses on Democrats, who they claim have engaged in a wide variety of "aggressive, premeditated, anti-Republican campaigns" over the past six-to-18 months. "We have evidence of a well-organized, well-funded series of operations designed specifically to undermine our message, depict our past performance in a negative light, and drive Republicans out of office," said Republican National Committee chairman Ken Mehlman, who accused an organization called the Democratic National Committee of spearheading the nationwide effort. "There are reports of television spots, print ads, even volunteers going door-to-door encouraging citizens to vote against us." Acknowledging that the "damage has already been done," Mehlman is seeking a promise from Democrats to never again engage in similar practices.
No, I wouldn't have known it was The Onion either if I hadn't looked. And I remember the days when it was a print newspaper, available for free from a green plastic machine in Harvard Square, and nothing it said could possibly have been mistaken for reality...
I'm not a Democrat -- I have no party affiliation and I'm further left-libertarian than they are -- but I am pleased by the events of the past few days and I now have at least some hope that the US can be turned back from the brink of catastrophe. |
|
|
| US Election Results: Almost Over |
[Nov. 8th, 2006|06:50 pm] |
Democrat Jon Tester has been called as the victor in Montana after one recount! That means that the Democrats currently have fifty seats to the Republicans fourty-nine; however, since the tie-breaking vote is the Leader of the Senate which is the Vice President, the Democrats have to take Virginia to have a majority. Democrat Webb has won in Virginia but it is so close that an automatic recount has occurred and there could be more recounts. It'll probably be the end of November by the time we know for certain who is in control of the Senate. It might even be December. That said, I think I shall assume that Democrats have taken both legislative branches.
Donald Rumsfeld has just announced that he is going to resign as Defense Secretary. AWESOME.
Nationally, I found out that ballot questions banning same-sex marriages passed in seven states -- Colorado, Idaho, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, and Wisconsin. It is too close to call in Arizona. I feel a little bit of sadness for my native country over this; bigotry should never be written into state constitutions. The legalisation of medical marijuana or marijuana as a whole failed in all states which had that on the ballot as well, which is most unfortunate for Nevada given the way their process for ballot questions works. I wish people would see that the only lives they can control are their own.
In Massachusetts, I'm not surprised by any of the results. Democrats for everyone I voted for and no on all the ballot questions, although Question 3 was close. Sometimes I wonder why I bother voting there; people vote no on the questions without knowing what they are and Democrats always win the seats.
Food for thought on the House: if the President and Vice President both happen to die whilst still holding office, the Speaker of the House becomes President. Come January, that will be Nancy Pelosi. Just sayin'.
I think I am somewhat running out of steam. |
|
|
| US Election Results, Take Four |
[Nov. 8th, 2006|07:31 am] |
I can't stay up anymore. The Senate race won't be done for some hours, so I think I'm going to try to take a nap (versus a full night's sleep) and dream of ShrubCo being impeached sometime in the next two years. I do believe the Democrats will get Virginia, Missouri, and Montana -- according to the data here, unless the recount goes awry in Virginia the Dems have already won there, and are in the lead in the other two. But it'll be a while before all the remaining precincts have reported in Missouri and Montana, and that doesn't include the liklihood of recounts.
Oh, hey, Missouri have just called for the Democrat, Claire McCaskill, at 49% of the vote with 85% of precincts reporting! Only two more to go, but as I'm too wiped to talk about the final results of the Massachusetts races with just under 100% of precincts reporting, I'm still going to go to sleep.
However, congratulations to New Hampshire for their upset in both House races, including the surprise of Carol Shea-Porter unseating Jeb Bradley.
More later! Today is a new day in America. And, um, in the UK... but differently. Yes. |
|
|
| US Election Results, Take Three |
[Nov. 8th, 2006|05:56 am] |
The White House has conceded the House of Representatives to the Democrats. Congratulations to Nancy Pelosi, the Congressperson from San Francisco who will soon be the first female Speaker of the House. This may end up being a sizable majority. I think it's twenty-one now, obviously well above the fifteen they needed.
The Senate is too close to call. I just heard that Tennessee has been called for the Republicans. There are four (it's late, I'm getting confused; three now?) states left; the Republican in Virginia has requested a recount. Two who have been elected are Independents that in one case is likely to rejoin the Democrats (Lieberman) and in the other is a Vermont lefty (Sanders) -- or Socalist, if you believe the pundit from the Univerrsity of Virginia on the BBC -- who would count within a Democratic majority. It is basically equal.
It looks like the majority of Governors will be Democrats, although the Governator has been re-elected in California and Charlie Crist has been elected in Florida. At least Katherine Harris lost her House run.
Massachusetts voters have said no to Question 1, which would have allowed wine to be sold in food stores. Question 2 has unfortunately been called for the "no" camp, although there are no articles on it as of yet.
South Dakota has overwhelmingly rejected a state law banning almost all abortions. Four states have banned same-sex marriage, although I'm unsure which ones; does anyone know?
I think it might be time for some coffee. |
|
|
| US Election Results, Take Two |
[Nov. 8th, 2006|04:02 am] |
Holy shit, the main media outlets called the Governor's race for Deval at 8pm -- the instant (most of) the poll closed. What the fuck? Way to combat voter apathy, media. And way to follow through on not celebrating victories until all the votes have been counted, Democrats. Grrrr.
Other instances of madness in this election include poor and homeless people recruited to hand out fraudulent sample ballots in Maryland, a voter smelling conspiracy theory smashing an electronic voting machine in Pennsylvania, telemarketing abuse, and calls to voters in Virginia incorrectly claiming precinct changes.
In happier news, Massachusetts is set to break its turnout record. I feel a slight tinge of hometown pride to read things like "In the bedroom community of Burlington, a little more than half of the city's 14,180 voters had cast ballots by 5 p.m" and "I'm thinking we're probably going to hit 75 percent by the end of the day" from Town Clerk Jane Chew. (Well done to my parents for voting immediately after my mother returned home from work and they had listened to me speak to them about Jill Stein and Question 2.)
Democrat Keith Ellison has been elected as the first Muslim member of Congress as a House Representative from Minnesota. The Democrats have just taken the New Hampshire House seat.
syntheticganesh, your vote really and truly matters -- you better have voted today!
THE DEMOCRATS JUST TOOK CONTROL OF THE HOUSE!!! Yay! Now to wait on the Senate! |
|
|
| US Election Results, Take One |
[Nov. 8th, 2006|03:03 am] |
I am currently sitting and watching the election results come in on BBC News 24 and Sky News. Well, not exactly currently, as the television is in the lounge and I am in the hall at the computer. I am also periodically checking boston.com.
So far, I am elated to hear that Republican Rick Santorum has been unseated as the Senator from Pennsylvania (not that Bob Casey is hugely better, but enough) and pleased that the Democrats have taken the Ohio Senate seat and Rhode Island Senate seat. Joe Lieberman has won as an Independent for his Senate seat in Connecticut. Democrats have gained key House seats in Indiana and Kentucky.
In Massachusetts news, the race for Governor has been called for Deval Patrick at 55% of the vote with 35% of precincts reporting, making him the first black Governor of Massachusetts and ending the Democrats sixteen-year absence from that office.
Sadly, with 28% of precincts reporting, the election for Secretary of State has been called for Galvin with 82% of the vote -- my town went for Galvin. :( And although it has not been called yet, it looks like Question 2 is going to fail. :(
Of course, saying all that, I wonder how they think they can accurately and with certainty call an election when so few precincts have reported, and with such an unexpectedly high turnout -- not to mention the fact that some polling places ran out of ballots and people were still voting when they started calling elections. That may mean this post will require some editing later.
I'll be here all night; not necessarily posting, although I will aim to do so, but I am going to stay up as late as can to watch how this unfolds. |
|
|
| 2006 Mid-Term Elections |
[Nov. 7th, 2006|04:09 am] |
I got my ballot late this year due to the incompetency of the Massachusetts Elections Division, but was able to send it back on 20 October due to excellent time management (ie, spending a couple of days not doing much else in my free time) and being known well by the Burlington Town Hall. (This does not explain why it then took me over two weeks to post about it, especially since I made notes, but blame being busy.)
Of thirteen state and federal offices for which to vote this year, five were uncontested; that is actually better than usual in a state which has had a Democratic majority for longer than anyone alive can remember and where most opposition candidates come from third parties. It also explains five of my votes for Democrats, although in fairness I would still have definitely voted for one of them.
Special note must be made of the shameful, disgusting mockery of the race for Governor's Councillor 6th District. Those elected to the position are in charge of making lifetime appointments to the judiciary and parole board, amongst other potentially life-altering decisions. However, of the four candidates (Democrat, Repubublican, and two Independents) only the Independents bothered to create websites. Neither gave information about their values -- one seemed to act almost solely as an advertisement for her real estate company. Democracy requires the citizenry to be able to know pertinent details of all candidates in order to make an informed decision and that has not occured in this race.
I am breaking from tradition this year regarding my feelings of the secrecy of the ballot to discuss who or what I've voted for -- and in one case, to perhaps publicly flagellate myself. You see, I feel slightly dirty for my Governor and Lieutenant Governor vote. If I had voted my true conscience, which I normally do as I'm not one for tactical voting, then it would have been Grace Ross and Martina Robinson of the Green-Rainbow Party; hello, left-wing small-l libertarian lesbian and mixed-race disabled bisexual welfare-receiving freelance journalist, how can I not vote for you? However, I wanted to make sure to avoid the unmitigated disaster of Kerry Healey and Reed Hillman so I held my nose and voted for Deval Patrick and Timothy Murray. I do agree with some of the Patrick / Murray ticket -- but if I could have been sure that the sizable gap in the polls between Patrick and Healey would stick several weeks before the election, I would have voted for the two people with the best policies for the state of Massachusetts.
It's not all breaking with tradition because my little radical heart feels guilty. I'm actually endorsing a candidate this year. Vote Jill E. Stein of the Green-Rainbow Party for Secretary of State! William Galvin has abused and made a mess of his position too long; he was supposed to be the watchman of the democratic system, but can't even respect the will of the people. His inadequacies include but aren't anywhere near limited to bringing in untested Diebold voting machines, screwed up postage on absentee ballots (a simple task which may now disenfranchise many voters), believes his office handled the Big Dig well, is responsible for Massachusetts getting sued by the Department of Justice for multiple voting rights violations, and failed to meet the deadline for compliance with the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) after four years to prepare and will miss it for the 2008 election as well. After intense pressure he only agreed to debate Jill Stein for five minutes in an undisclosed location, which turned into fifteen minutes of him refusing to answer questions and attacking her party affiliation. Alternately, Jill Stein has a platform of open and transparent government, clean elections, greater voting rights, fair districts, and Instant Runoff Voting (IRV). For these and other reasons, I'm proud to support Jill Stein as my candidate. Vote Jill, not Bill!
In addition to my complete support of the fantastic Jill Stein, I am endorsing the Yes campaign for Question 2: Cross-Party Candidacy. This would bring back the cross-endorsement voting made illegal in Massachusetts by the two main parties in 1912 and which currently exists in both New York and Connecticut. Far from being confusing -- a statement made by the "No" camp which I find particularly patronising, especially as it seems to be mostly made up of those on Beacon Hill -- it combats voter apathy by giving a real say to marginalised voters. It is simple to choose whether to vote for a mainstream, cross-endorsed, or completely independent candidate. A mainsteam candidate who has cross-party candidacy means that they substantively agree with the policies of the other parties and will have to make those issues a priority for those that vote on the cross-endorsed line and will introduce new parties that way as well as new faces by allowing smaller parties to team up for a real chance at winning more seats. I do not believe it would stifle more substantial electoral reform that would bring in Proportional Representation as some seem to fear; indeed, by more parties other than the main two getting "official" recognition in the state, I think that it would increase public knowledge of the options available to them which would itself lead eventually to PR.
If you are American, please vote tomorrow (er, today) regardless of your political stripes. Participate in the democratic process and give yourself the ability to bitch about it for the next two years -- if you don't bother to use your vote, you have no place complaining about the outcome.
Thanks to all the resources I used this year: boston.com Massachusetts Elections 2006, ontheissues.org: Massachusetts Politicians, Wikipedia, Blue Mass Group (which I syndicated some time ago at ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/syndicated.gif) bluemassgroup and which was also used for news watch pre-vote), Mass.Gov, and many candidate websites. |
|
|
| Awww, how cute! |
[Oct. 6th, 2006|11:49 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | computing, uk | ] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Home | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  hungry | ] |
| [ | listening to |
| | Christina Aguilera - Fighter | ] |
From Doodle 4 Google:
"The 'Doodle 4 Google - My Britain' competition asks young people across the UK to design a doodle that represents what it means to be British today. The winning doodle, which will be displayed on the Google UK homepage for a day, will be seen by around 18 million people.
This is the first nationwide Doodle 4 Google competition and is open to every school in the UK."
On the site, there are three categories for students aged 4-8, 9-13, and 14-18. Vote for the three National Winners and help one of them win a trip to Google in San Francisco! It's so cute. |
|
|
| I got my first OKCupid flame! |
[Oct. 3rd, 2006|02:18 am] |
I got a message today on OKCupid from a sunnyday06, also known as the unsurprisingly single Mr. Gary Voss, 38-year-old taxi company owner from East Lansing, Michigan. I do not know this man and he clearly does not know me.
Entitled 'Eliza Doolittle', it said:
( It still smells the same no matter what one calls the body part it originates from. )
The right thing to do would have been to delete it. I know this. I shouldn't rise to the occasion, allow myself to be dragged to his level, and all those trite proverbs. And it's true that his lack of actually reading my profile made responding like shooting fish in a barrel. However, experience based on years of BBses and Usenet has proved those lead to the best, most humourous replies. My flaming is a little rusty and I'm in a state of insomnia but I just couldn't help myself. I said (with apologies to Americans all and sundry):
( Mummy, what does sarcasm smell like? )
I'm not at all in the habit of publicly embarassing people like this, but they are totally begging for it when they act like the aforementioned stupid Yank in nasty, unsolicited emails and are moronic enough to include their real name in their profile. |
|
|
| Celluloid as comfort food. |
[Sep. 19th, 2006|07:05 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | film | ] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Home | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | i'm a loser, baby. | ] |
There was a specific late '80s film I had seen shortly after it came out but I could never recall the name; even though I only saw it once, it remained an enduring favourite stuck solidly into my head. I was flipping through the television channels in my unyielding insomnia today and happened upon the daytime movie on channel five.
There it was. Cybill Shepherd, (a very young and very hot) Robert Downey Jr., and Mary Stuart Masterson. It was called Chances Are and was made in 1989. I must have seen it in 1990 or so, when I was ten.
Y'know, it's not as good as I remembered. It's much more saccharine, not particularly well crafted, the cinemotography is shite, and the premise -- particularly the ending -- is all sorts of wrong. Still, sitting there watching it, I couldn't help but be moved to tears by the end. That could be explained by my overtired state, but in reality, I'm a big ol' sentimental sap.
Yeah. It's a mediocre film, and some of the lustre is now gone, but it's not terrible and at least I bloody know what it's called now. |
|
|
| 26! |
[Jun. 19th, 2006|11:22 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | birthdays | ] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Home | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  bouncy | ] |
| [ | listening to |
| | The weekenders | ] |
Today is my twenty-sixth birthday!
Whee!
Until at least 5am inclusive due to the privileges of being an expatriate from the Eastern timezone, I am... BIRTHDAY GIRL!
<disappears in a puff of smoke> |
|
|
| navigation |
| [ |
viewing |
| |
most recent entries |
] |
| [ |
go |
| |
earlier |
] |
| |
|
|
giggly
tired
contemplative