At the moment I’m taking Mucinex, and if you have never taken an expectorant, you might want to meet their cute Mucus Mascot family. Or… not. However, this stuff is hella awesome. From their product line, this is what I take.

Science Digestive is writing some interesting letters. Hat tip to Phil Plait. From Science: Dear Media, Dear Homeopathy, Dear Astrology, Dear Economics, Dear ‘Apple’, Dear Advertising, Dear ‘The Pope’.

Not Exactly Rocket Science: Why Does the Gunslinger Who Draws First Always Get Shot? Though the theory that inspired the research may be more of a case of awesome gun-slingin’ physicist, the research itself is interesting.

New York Post: SAVAGE BEAGLES TERRORIZE EAST END. Yes, REALLY. “It was like a scene from a werewolf movie.” Hat tip to Andrew Sullivan (who loves his beagles).

Talking Points Memo: Week of Shenanigans Makes the CA-Gov Race Interesting Again. What happens when two billionaire Republican candidates duke it out in the party’s gubernatorial primary? Wank. So much wank. Not even political wank. (No, Schwarzenegger is not involved.)

Bad Astronomy: Evolution for kids. Whoa. This is a neat book: illustrated, scientific, Phil Plait’s stamp of approval. Look at the cover:

Available directly from skeptic.com’s shop, Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.co.uk (where I think it’s actually temporarily sold out). Considering how evolution-anathema the US is, I’m surprised the ratings are that high on the Amazon.com entry (five stars); undoubtedly this will change as some folks go to mob it.

The Big Picture: Tough Guy Challenge 2010. For those of us with a weaker disposition, it’s nice to watch tough people of both genders put themselves through trials that will probably make them as sick as us over the coming week.

While I’m at it, a couple more health product plugs, both from Burt’s Bees, because there are so very many things wrong with me.

First is Res-Q Ointment; it comes in a small round tin, 1.5″ across and 0.75″ high, is green, and smells like aloe vera. Some people don’t like the smell, but it’s comforting to me. It helped heal a very nasty scrape wound that itched like crazy under Neosporin, even the one that’s supposed to soothe itching; and only a little bit under the Res-Q. It’s also the only scrape I’ve had that’s healed without much of a scar. Recommend it highly.

You can get four tins at bulk price from Amazon.com, but you aren’t going to use all that much of it. Though I certainly made a noticeable divot while treating the rather horrible scrape. Apparently there’s also Res-Q Lip Balm now. I’m not sure how I feel about that.

Second is Thorougly Therapeutic Honey & Grapeseed Oil Hand Creme. The skin on my face is constantly oiled and smooth, but the skin on my hands get cracked horribly during winter, even in the soggy Pacific Northwest, to the point where it will bleed between cracks by noon. So far, this is the only hand creme that works. It does smell very nice, too, and soaks in rather than staying greasy. I use a lot of this, but unfortunately it’s not currently available in bulk anywhere.

And finally: this is where John Travolta lives. I’m… kind of speechless.

Bad Astronomy: President Obama’s NASA budget unveiled. We probably won’t miss Constellation all that much, but there are other things we probably will.

James Fallows: Why bipartisanship can’t work. “The drawbacks of a parliamentary system… without any of the advantages.”

Justin Kaufman’s Campaign Ad Film Reviews – Installments 1, 2, 3, and 4

Andrew Sullivan: Ronald Reagan, Leftist. No, Reagan is not being argued as Liberal All Along. Well. Not in the usual way.

SlightlyWarped.com’s Curiosities: Awesome Elevator Ads

/Film: Orange/Blue Contrast in Movie Posters. Warning: you cannot unsee this. However, of the things that you can’t unsee, this is probably one of the preferable ones.

US Baptists Knew Taking Children Out of Haiti Was Wrong. WTF.

Roger Ebert: How to Read a Movie. An older blog entry of his. His (@ebertchicago) is the only Twitter stream I read via RSS.

Dear Fans of the new Sherlock Holmes movie:

Let me apologize on the behalf of older Sherlock Holmes fandom for the bits of it that have been generating get-off-my-lawn reboot wank, not five days after the release of the movie. The Sherlock Holmes fandom has thrived for over a hundred years and multiple generations, and every generation has its… special snowflakes.

But fortunately, every generation has also produced creative fandom work (though they may not see it that way), from the solidly analytical to the wondrously fanciful. I may not agree with all of them, or even remotely like some of them, but they all occupy a place in my heart, because there wouldn’t be a Sherlock Holmes fandom without constant re-interpretation of the works. Yes, even the fic pastiche where Moriarty is a vampire who falls madly in love with Holmes.¹

I present to you the more amusing pieces of Holmesiana I’ve gathered throughout the years. I’ve strived for a varied collection here that is at the very least sometimes accessible, even if it knocks out some of my absolute favorites. Too much of the fandom is out of print; I hope that changes one day, so that reading all the ’ship wank doesn’t cost 500£.

[Love and adaptation: that's how legends survive.]

2. Zoë’s Tale

3. Live-Tweeted Hugo Awards!

Many thanks to Cheryl Morgan and her live-blogging skills.

You can see the tweets at @TheHugoAwards.

4. Nick Mamatas Went to See G.I. Joe

And… wow, what a bad movie.

5. TVTropes.org

What the Hell, Hero?
Narm
This Is Your Premise on Drugs
One’s a Plot

6. Agony Booth

The Worst of Trek, in particular.

7. Harry and Silvio

Little characters drawn by Eric Orchard that are cute awesome. This for instance is currently my iPhone wallpaper.

I had kind of a silly nightmare, compared to the ones I usually dread. It was more of a realization, kind of like the Obama dream.

This is going to ramble on a bit.

In my dream, I’d driven my car to where Home Depot used to be. Except there was a Toys ‘R Us instead! Bizarre, but I spent some time walking around.

I picked up some little thing to buy. As I was checking out, I noticed huge cardboard boxes open at the top on the side of the checkout line, filled with stuffed toys. Very cheap toys pricewise, Beanie Baby ripoffs, but good quality ones. A lot of Chinese Zodiac animals (I remember bulls and pigs but no lions—of course no lions, because that’s the other Zodiac, though I identify more strongly with lions). Some velvety Neopets, too: Shoyrus in particular, of many bicolor variations.

Toys. I used to love toys so much. When I was growing up, even cheap toys were better than abusive/neglectful parents. A Toys ‘R Us was like… a mecca. When I thought I had gotten away from my parents, the first thing I did was buy a lot of stuffed toys. Tons of them. There was even a point where I knew every official beanie baby as well as I knew every Magic card starting with Tempest.

When I finally had to flee, I donated almost everything I had, including the hundreds of dollars both of those collections represented, because I couldn’t afford to take much with me. Only so much fits in a backpack. Only so much time to get out before someone finds and kills you when they live mere hours away and have a mole in your former group of friends who has blown your address and identity.

That makes, of course, the next bit of the dream obvious.

I lost my purse.

My purse is actually a Timbuk2 Click Mini-Messenger Bag, which I think usually gets pressed into service as a man-bag.

I got it because it fit my Kindle with its cover and, unlike so many other bags of its size, has a water bottle mesh holding thing. The “purse” carries my cards of various types, my wallet, my folding travel brush with mirror handle, keys, wet lens cleaning cloths in little packets ¹, little book light, some pills, a USB key, and, these days, my iPhone, which does everything but let me read for long periods of time because it hurts my eyes and hasn’t stopped.

It’s still pretty roomy after all that, so sometimes it’s my sole shopping companion—and last night, also a kind of overnight bag away from the house (in Real Life). ²

And like the normal-sized Timbuk2 messenger bag—gods, I sound like a commercial, but I love this bag—it has a detachable comfortable adjustable strap ³, a ribbon with a little plastic carabiner ⁴, a click buckle ⁵, a sturdy handle, outside pockets under the folding bit (!), inside pockets! for pens and a zipper pocket for mini-USB and iPhone cables and a little zipper pocket and a mesh pocket and a pocket that fits a USB key and a pocket that fits an iPhone ⁶…

After I’d bought the little thing, whatever it was, that I tried to find my car in the parking lot. I couldn’t, and then realized I had no purse/man-bag.

I was devastated.

How they figured out which one was it in the parking lot of a former Home Depot I’ll never know, because it was a dream. ⁷ Even in the dream I realized this, and it added some surreal humor. Hijinks with Toys ‘R Us employees (generally helpful and concerned) ensued, which is another trigger all together even as I write this.

And then I woke up, which is a horrible way to end a story but a wonderful way to end something like that.

In my life, I love lots of things, but I care about very few things, because I know that life can screw you.

I loved my books so much.

And books, a wall of books, even in a crap apartment… and especially in this museum library apparently… they look like they’ll always be there, don’t they.

Like you can lose yourself in them at any time.

Yeah.

Not when you’re crying in a random airport with no home.

There are times when I really regret that J.K. Rowling refuses to have Harry Potter published in ebook form.

There was… such a long time of that kind of regret.

Not anymore, of course, I have them all again, but I won’t if I have to flee again. Even a mini-flee like last night.

I suppose all that has fitted me out for the digital life. Much of what matters to me is not just in my purse (which is very little) but also online. I have multiple hidden and encrypted file caches with different providers, securely accessible from multiple points using utilities on my USB key ⁸ or, hell, even from my iPhone.

And of course my purse has the key to them if I have nothing left but it….

Goddamn physical anchors to the world. They can hurt you in so many ways. I hope you have no idea, because it would be better to never know how much they can. I’m not Buddhist and have no desire ⁹ to be, but dude was onto something.

Never put your trust in things. Not digital, not physical. Not ideas, and not “real” stuff. I cannot even begin to comprehend things like conspicuous consumption anymore.

Anyways, I’m watching my purse MUCH damn more carefully in the future. Even in dreams.

Off to get ready and do another mini-flee. I am indeed a Leo ¹⁰, so you can imagine why I’m starting to pre-emptively trigger again. This kind of week? This is actually a good week for me. Not great. Just good.

This bit of blogging has helped, as well as, I think, my desire during the work week to stay until 9pm and even later. Stupid global weird weather crap.

Notes:

1. Oh glasses, I wish you weren’t such a bane and eye surgery was kind of more guaranteed. [back]
2. Now that bit is not such a long story, but it’s relatively boring: I basically got triggered by gods know what, though relatively mildly, and stayed out until the wee hours of the morning when light was crossing the sky again. Someday I’ll feel safe all the time; I feel safe usually in my house, but obviously not always. My parents are of a long-lived family, and the nearest time I can expect them to be dead is 2050. So eventually. [back]
3. No shoulder pad, but nothing is perfect. [back]
4. Sort of a wiregate, but all plastic, kinda cheap, but hey, it’s not for mountain-climbing in a D&D scenario…. [back]
5. “Click” is still a lame name, but I suppose it’s better than nothing. [back]
6. That is, if I didn’t have this rugged rubber cover with plastic screen shield on it, which makes tossing an expensive iPhone into a bag of random hard items a non-insane affair. I’ve gotten really good at finding the very clear shield after it gets put somewhere else. [back]
7. My car is so cheap that it doesn’t have automatic windows, much less a remote beep-here-I-am feature. [back]
8. Thank you, Cory Doctorow, for you and Little Brother, and all the anonymous and non-anonymous hardcore software geeks out there. [back]
9. Ha ha ha ha. I didn’t intend the pun…. [back]
10. I identify with Harry Potter in so many ways, and this is just one of them. [back]