JamesSavik

I used to go camping on the barrier isles on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. It's beautiful out there, but Hurricane Katrina literally redrew the map.

Abs

They call baseball the national pastime, but I haven't an iota of interest in watching a bunch of guys stand around scratching their balls and spitting. As a Southern boy, South Eastern Conference footbrawl is more a religion that meets in the fall on Saturdays for tailgating and massive, pageantry laden ceremonies. Next year Texas and Oklahoma will join, and resistance is futile. Good teams will be assimilated.

Distantly related to measles and chicken pox, smallpox has been a terrible scourge throughout humanity's history. Marked by many small, painful pustules, it is a highly infectious disease that has changed the course of entire empires. The Variola virus is thought by many to have been responsible for the Antoine Plague* which started the long process of Rome's collapse. It decimated the native tribes of North and South America when it was carried to the new world by European explorers, traders and colonists. Although Smallpox is thought to have been eradicated, the world may not yet be done with the Variola virus. Given its status as a highly contagious disease which has not been mass vaccinated for in over fifty years, its potential as an exceptionally lethal biological weapon cannot be ignored. _____ * - in the interest of full disclosure, there is some debate whether it was the Black Plague or Smallpox. Either way, it took the starch out of Rome at the height of her power.

Some prompts speak to you. Some of them don't. Sometimes you just don't have time to do them justice. This one was fun: the Metamorphosis (with my apologies to Kafka)

oblivious

Writing chapters in advance is a good idea if you can. I’m too scatter-brained to do it. I propose 2 alternatives for preserving your sanity. 1 - outline ahead. It really helps to know where you’re going. or 2 - rough draft ahead. Both can get you there faster with out bottle necking the process. I have been experimenting with different techniques to get make the work process easier and faster.

I would walk to Dallas for my sister-in-law’s luscious Christmas Eve Prime Rib feast. The aroma alone is a sure cure for vegan silliness.

I spent Christmas Eve in Dallas with family. A storm ended the day before, and it was cold and blustery overnight. This morning, my sister-in-law's BIG inflatable Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman had been blown into a sixty-nine in her front yard. Can a Snowman be arrested for unlawful carnal knowledge of a reindeer??? When I get home I'll try to post a pic, if they turned out - it was dark when I took it but should be legendary.

resolute

Train

I don't know, Doc. Santa's Slay sounds like a sweet name for a metal band.

Purgatory (isn’t that a synonym for marriage?)

bromance

sentence

merger

satellite

Sir Scruffy the gray tabby was so proud when his Squire was Knighted.

sauerkraut

When a nuclear reactor has problems, an emergency shutdown is called a SCRAM. In most reactors, this is accomplished by pushing the neutron absorbing graphite control rods into the reactor pile to moderate the fission reaction. This also has to be accompanied by the application of coolant to release the residual heat. Believe it or not, almost every reactor has manual backup systems to perform both functions in an emergency. The reason the Fukushima reactors failed was the tsunami knocked out their coolant systems and despite the control rods, the heat of the nuclear material continued to rise, melted the control equipment, got so hot that it denatured water into its constituent components oxygen and hydrogen. This gas eventually exploded, rupturing the containment vessels, causing the catastrophic failure. Hydrogen explodes as the Fukushima reactor fails catastrophically. While many people like to point to Fukushima and Chernobyl as proof that nuclear power is too dangerous to trust, both are bad examples. Chernobyl was a bad design asked to do something stupid. Fukushima was hit by one of the most powerful earthquakes in recorded history and a tsunami. Reactor design stopped in the seventies. Very few new reactors have been built, and older ones were decommissioned and not replaced. It's past time to revisit these designs, apply modern technology, techniques and fuels to create a new generation of reactors that are safer, cleaner and more cost-effective.

napalm

It's F9 FTW. I use Firefox and it worked just fine. Thanks, and I know how hard it is to be a lawful neutral mage. It ain't easy wearing the red cloak.

I was reading a story earlier and one of my cats ran across my keyboard. Suddenly, the screen changed. The story was laid out for printing, with options to print, browse the story or have the browser read it aloud. I kinda sorta knew this existed, but the spoiled brat cat won't tell me what keys he stepped on. How do I get this back? Hearing the words is invaluable for editing!

OK, here you go: Boyfriends for Christmas