Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in nelc's LiveJournal:

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Sunday, November 8th, 2009
1:01 am	Villains Good discussion of villains at Slacktivist's latest Left Behind post, particulalrly here. The thing that ties all these villains together is that they have a clear effect, not just on the opinions or allegiances or ideologies of those around them, but on their personalities. Their children are mentally ill; their followers are self-destructive; their chosen friends are callous and irresponsible. Being around them harms people. (Kit Whitfield) Current Mood: cold Current Music: Queen—Another One Bites the Dust (Comment on this)
Saturday, November 7th, 2009
10:40 pm	Book Covers A couple of scans I did tonight. Two classic Penguin SF covers by Alfred Chesterman: The Demolished Man and Tiger! Tiger! (aka. The Stars My Destination) Current Mood: cold Current Music: Sinn Sisamouth - Srolanh Srey Touch "I Love Petite Girl" (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Friday, October 30th, 2009
8:10 pm	I'd do something about it, but.... Greed: Medium   Gluttony: Medium   Wrath: Low   Sloth: Medium   Envy: Very Low   Lust: Medium   Pride: Low   The Seven Deadly Sins Quiz on 4degreez.com Current Mood: lazy (Comment on this)
Wednesday, October 28th, 2009
10:59 pm	Mental Note Don't start to write something 40 minutes before I'm due to go off to fencing club if I don't want to be an hour late. (How did that happen, anyway?) Current Mood: confused Current Music: Ting Tings—Shut Up & Let Me Go (Comment on this)
7:49 pm	The Galleryan Moons of Juniper, and the Sex Lives of the Gamineans ( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. ) Current Mood: thoughtful Current Music: Dreaming of Fiji—Philip Glass (Comment on this)
Saturday, October 24th, 2009
10:26 pm	In the Fight A beautiful picture I saw over at the Life site: Women fighting fires at Pearl Harbor, 1941. Gallery here. Current Mood: sleepy (Comment on this)
Tuesday, October 20th, 2009
8:01 pm	IAT '08 pix DSCF0770 Originally uploaded by NelC. Finally put up the pictures from the International Air Tattoo from last year. That was the one that got called off due to heavy rain flooding the car parks. However, the aircraft were already there, and others were booked to attend, so they turned up, and some actually did some routines for the spectators who turned up anyway. At right, a B-1B arrives at Fairford. Link to the set here. Current Mood: bouncy Current Music: John Williams — Airplane Fight | Powered by Last.fm (Comment on this)
Monday, October 19th, 2009
1:47 am	Empire Dreams In a thread about Your favourite Star Wars movies I produced this: In my dreams, the Ewoks are chameleoid lizards with inscrutable expressions and the ability to hide from the Empire in plain sight. Their wood and stone weapons are expertly worked, looking like weapons from a real culture instead of the 'Hollywood primitive' aesthetic where every bit of wood is bent and gnarly and tied together with vines that are apparently still growing. The first meeting with the rebels is filled with menace as the expressionless lizards drop their camouflage and emerge from the forest's gloom. As is the moment when they attack the Empire's installation, when a thousand lizards reveal themselves on the Empire's doorstep, bearing the weapons they have stolen from the Clone Troopers and kept in reserve until that moment. That movie I'd place above Empire, but since it doesn't exist, Empire gets my vote. Current Mood: geeky Current Music: John Williams—Imperial March (Comment on this)
Monday, September 28th, 2009
7:30 pm	That Arthur Dent feeling Walking home from the library this evening, walking into the brassy sunset, the sky a deepening blue above, a Chinese love song seguing into Jean Michel Jarre on my iPod; I felt I could let go of the Earth and slip into the sky.... Current Mood: elated Current Music: Jean Michel Jarre—Ron's Piece (Comment on this)
Thursday, September 17th, 2009
2:07 pm	An Infinite Number of Dan Browns A mysterious cipher whose key is somewhere in Boston. A murderous cult determined to protect it. A desperate race to uncover the Daughters of the American Revolution's darkest secret. The Forgotten Mark When world-famous Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned to Paul Revere's grave to analyze a mysterious geometric form—imprinted on a gold ring lying next to the disfigured form of the head docent—he discovers evidence of the unthinkable: the resurgence of the ancient cult of the Diablonistas, a secret branch of the Daughters of the American Revolution that has surfaced from the shadows to carry out its legendary vendetta against its mortal enemy, the Vatican. Langdon's worst fears are confirmed when a messenger from the Diablonistas appears at the Arnold Arboretum to deliver a grim ultimatum: Turn over the archbishop, or one cherub will disappear from the Sistine Chapel every day. With only three days to foil their plot, Langdon joins forces with the statuesque and charming daughter of the murdered docent in a desperate bid to crack the code that will reveal the cult's secret plan. Embarking on a frantic hunt, Langdon and his companion follow a 900-year-old trail through Boston's most historic statues and sacred libraries, pursued by a rented assassin the cult has sent to thwart them. What they discover threatens to expose a conspiracy that goes all the way back to Susan B. Anthony and the very founding of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Dan Brown Plot Generator Current Mood: hungry Current Music: Good Technology—The Red Guitars (Comment on this)
3:47 am	Out in Africa Still five days left of the Out in Africa Gay & Lesbian Film Festival in Cape Town, if anybody happens to be in that neck of the woods. The reason I'm blogging this is because some whatever-they-call-unpleasant-people-in-South-Africa tore down all 700 of the nice posters that were put up for the festival, which was a most uncivilised action. So I thought I'd add a little more weight to their site in the search-engine rankings, just a little. Seen in boingboing. Current Mood: quixotic Current Music: Paul Simon—Under African Skies (Comment on this)
Tuesday, September 15th, 2009
2:21 pm	Charity Appeal for the Unappealing Reminded by PZ Myers' recent blog about excarnation (warning: the blog links to a NSFW site (I mean besides the vultures)), by coincidence having just reread Neil Gaiman's Petrafax's Story in Vol 8 of The Sandman, I looked up how India's vultures are doing these days. The answer is "not well". A few years ago, the authorities in India were alarmed by the swift die-back of India's vulture populations. At the time, they were looking for a mysterious virus or bacteria that could overcome the vulture's hardy immune system, or some continent-wide pollutant that might be adversely affecting them. The culprit turned out to be diclofenac, or Voltaren, an anti-inflammatory drug widely used on humans and cattle. Vultures feeding on the carcasses of cattle (or humans) who had been treated with the drug would suffer acute renal failure and die. Since the drug was widely used (it's since been banned for use in India), and feeding on only one so-treated carcass could kill a whole flock of vultures, this led to an astounding 97% crash in all Indian vulture populations, and 99.9% in certain species. Let me just rephrase that, in the space of only a few years, vulture populations crashed to one-thirtieth of their previous levels, with some species dropping to one-thousandth. Why this is bad: well, the ecology, man. More specifically, with one major carrion-eater effectively vanished from the Indian ecology, the slack is being taken up by the next most populous carrion-eater, the dog. A rise in the wild dog population that will come from this will almost certainly lead to problems down the line, as dogs aren't just carrion-eaters but also pack hunting carnivores. This will impact on cattle and on humans. I'm sure your imagination can fill in the grisly details. India does not need another 10 million feral dogs. Now, vultures aren't the most photogenic animals out there. They aren't as majestic as whales, definitely not as cute as pandas, and their table manners, well, let's not dwell on them. They are ugly and they do an ugly job, by our lights. But it's a necessary job and they do it well. The RSPB have a vulture appeal to help breed more vultures. I predict that it will not raise a lot of money, because of the aforementioned ugliness. But despite that, if you have a dollar or two to spare it might do relatively more good here than in many other places. Just a suggestion. Ugly animals need love, too. Click the link to send them some money. (Comment on this)
Saturday, August 29th, 2009
9:29 pm	Good afternoon, hideous porn pustules. Talklikewarrenellis.com Current Mood: bitchy Current Music: Cosmos—Vangelis (Comment on this)
Friday, August 14th, 2009
10:45 pm	Ouch! I have a nasty black bruise on my left index finger knuckle from where a fencing sabre tapped it last Wednesday. (How the devil did he hit it when it was behind my back?) Current Music: Californication—Red Hot Chillipeppers (Comment on this)
Wednesday, August 12th, 2009
1:17 pm	Jesus Christ, Try the Kanji Definitely not Kanji Word of the Day. From tgies, quoting Dan Brown's Digital Fortress: For two hours, Becker interpreted an endless stream of Mandarin symbols. But each time he gave them a translation, the cryptographers shook their heads in despair. Apparently the code was not making sense. Eager to help, Becker pointed out that all the characters they'd shown him had a common trait-they were also part of the Kanji language. Instantly the bustle in the room fell silent. The man in charge, a lanky chain-smoker named Morante, turned to Becker in disbelief. "You mean these symbols have multiple meanings?" Becker nodded. He explained that Kanji was a Japanese language [apparently this was revised to read "writing system" in later editions; "Kanji language", above, remained - ed.] based on modified Chinese characters. He'd been giving Mandarin translations because that's what they'd asked for. "Jesus Christ." Morante coughed. "Let's try the Kanji." Like magic, everything fell into place. The cryptographers were duly impressed, but nonetheless, they still made Becker work on the characters out of sequence. "It's for your own safety" Morante said. "This way, you won't know what you're translating." Becker laughed. Then he noticed nobody else was laughing. Wrong, wrong, wrong. Go read the comments. Current Mood: amused (Comment on this)
Tuesday, August 11th, 2009
4:28 am	There is No Face-palm Macro Big Enough How House Bill Runs Over Grandma, IBD editorials, 31st July 2009: People such as scientist Stephen Hawking wouldn't have a chance in the U.K., where the National Health Service would say the life of this brilliant man, because of his physical handicaps, is essentially worthless. Is there no cosmic censorship law to shield us from this singularity of stupid that is opposed to any kind of solution to the US health-care crisis? Current Mood: cross Current Music: rain (Comment on this)
Wednesday, August 5th, 2009
6:39 pm	Pterry calls for assisted suicide law Terry Pratchett in the Daily Mail: 'I believe that if the burden gets too great, those who wish should be allowed to be shown the door,' he said. 'In my case, in the fullness of time, I hope it will be in the garden under an English sky. Or, if wet, the library.' Current Mood: gloomy (Comment on this)
Tuesday, July 21st, 2009
1:09 am	The Professional Your result for The Supervillain Archetype Test... The Professional Cool, Levelheaded, Lethal The Professional is the most dangerous of all villains. You do what you do better than anyone, because, as a Professional, you have standards. The Professional is like the Crook in that they both desire money. But the Professional wants more than that. The Professional wants job satisfaction. It isn't sadism really, he just wants to be sure that the job is done, and done well. No hard feelings, it's just business. Professionals prefer to work alone, but will work in groups if given incentive. The greatest weakness of a Professional is risk. A Professional is business-like, but can't resist a challenge. They often use the word "worthy opponent". People like that are easily baited. And if a Professional is eventually cornered (not easy to do), they might lose it. Sample Professionals: Deathstroke, Bullseye, Revanche Take The Supervillain Archetype Test at HelloQuizzy Current Mood: tired Current Music: Catatonia—Road Rage (Comment on this)
Friday, July 17th, 2009
10:31 pm	Air Tattoo 09 I think I'm going to make a run for Fairford tomorrow. It looks like the weather will be lousy, but at least that means that the aircraft will be flying low, so I might get some good shots. And it'll be just like Farnborough 72, the first time I saw a Vulcan. Charging my rechargeables now. If I can rouse myself early enough, I'll grab some cash, spare batteries and sandwiches tomorrow morning, and we'll see how it goes. At least I won't need sunscreen. Current Mood: bouncy Current Music: Kenny Logins—Danger Zone (Comment on this)
Thursday, July 9th, 2009
12:48 am	Crazy! My LiveJournal Sitcom Being NelC (FX, 6:30): NelC (Jim Henson) and apneatic (Josephine Baker) find a lost parakeet at the Eiffel Tower. Afterwards, sex108 (Steve Martin) marries ffutures (Geoffrey Blake)'s grandmother. Later that day, antipope_cats (Jada Pinkett) keeps accidentally stepping on ninja (Michael Moore)'s foot. Also, keikotakamura (David Hyde Pierce) causes problems at work when a file from feorag (Alan Rickman) has a virus. That weekend, west32 (Rosie O'Donnell) is allergic to slammerkinbabe (Tupac Shakur)'s sweatshirt. Crazy results follow. What's Your LiveJournal Sitcom? (by rfreebern) Current Mood: tired Current Music: Sash—Encore Un Fois! (Comment on this)