Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘Thoughts’

My version of that one (super true) cat meme:

Super super true.

Also, kitty needs a new bed.

Read Full Post »

In response to the top request of the week so far, I give you another kitty update.

When we first met Lord Argyle we noted that he was mostly white with a few grey-black splotches. We thought he would be a great fit and he was super cute, just had the bad fortune to be an adult cat who had been passed over too many times in favor of kittens. His coloring looked a little like Neko, our last cat, but not enough to be weird. 

Apparently, we didn’t look hard enough. 

In some positions and in certain lights, Argyle looks almost exactly like Neko. He is also long and sturdily built, a tad overweight, and enjoys the same spots she did, like the top of the stairs and the chair in the library. I sometimes catch a glimpse of him peering through the railing and do a double take.

Is it weird? A little, but as far as personalities go, that’s where the resemblance ends.

Argyle is still a little nervous but he’s also very cuddly, doesn’t mind being picked up or otherwise touched, and has yet to growl at a passing dog, lawn mower or delivery person. 

Our new overlord is sweet, and we’re having a great time getting to know him.

* * *

Photo by Yerlin Matu on Unsplash

Read Full Post »

Lieutenant Uhura is now with the stars.

Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Nichelle Nichols, Lt. Uhura on ‘Star Trek,’ dead at 89
Nichols was one of the first Black women featured in a major television series, and her role as Lt. Nyota Uhura on the original TV series was groundbreaking: an African American woman whose name came from Uhuru, the Swahili word for “freedom.”

“For the first time, we are being seen the world over as we should be seen.”

— Martin Luther King Jr., Star Trek’s Uhura Reflects On MLK Encounter

Nichelle Nichols showed us all that the future belonged to more than just white men, and then she helped NASA build that future.

“After Apollo 11, Nichelle made it her mission to inspire women and people of color to join this agency, change the face of STEM and explore the cosmos. Nichelle’s mission is NASA’s mission. Today, as we work to send the first woman and first person of color to the Moon under Artemis, NASA is guided by the legacy of Nichelle Nichols.”

— NASA Administrator Bill Nelson
NASA, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

She demonstrated, with talent, conviction, determination and grace, that the future is brighter when all of us are in it.

“If they let me in the door, I will open it so wide that they will see the world.”

— Woman in Motion tells story of how Star Trek’s Uhura changed NASA forever | Ars Technica

She did. We did. And humanity is so much better for it.

“If you can see it, you can be it,” the saying goes. Nichelle Nichols gave millions of people the opportunity to see themselves on the frontiers of science and exploration, boldly expanding human understanding.

She inspired so many of us to reach for the stars. What a legacy.

— Hillary Clinton

* * *

(NASA/Bill Ingalls) NASA Identifier: nasahqphoto-5161637425

Read Full Post »

The new cat is settling in. Despite the initial freak out and subsequent hiding marathon, today he came out from under his chair and decided that we would be allowed to pet him. We spent an hour demonstrating our kitty servant bonafides, and he graciously decided to give us a chance.

Progress, hooray!

* * *

Photo by Jonathan Cooper on Unsplash

Read Full Post »

Today in delightfully artistically incredibly cool:

Infinite Stories by Vaskange

* * *

Photo by Mathew Schwartz on Unsplash

Read Full Post »

I believe I mentioned that we are just about ready for a new cat. (Honestly, can I even call myself a writer if I don’t have a cat?) The problem is, how to choose? 

We’ve started the search at our local rescue, the one we turned to when we realized that the local strays were breeding up a storm and both they and their progeny needed to be trapped. Now we’re on the other side of that equation, which feels good. Still, there are so many options, each a door into a different version of the future. (It’s kind of fun when you think of it like that.)

Do we go for a kitten, engineered by evolution to be cute (nice) but without any idea what sort of personality they’ll develop as they get older (feels a bit risky)? 

Do we go for a more sedate, cuddly cat with a couple of years under its collar, both to know what we’re getting and to skip the crazy kitten “It’s four a.m. and you have toes! I will eatz them!” phase? 

Or somewhere in between?

Friday we met a pair of kittens relatively fresh from the trap and still a bit skittish. Yesterday we met the shy adult cuddler. Tonight we meet the in-betweeners.

This is why I don’t visit the animal section in pet stores; I want to help them all.

How to choose?

* * *

Read Full Post »

“. . . what I like doing best is Nothing.”
“How do you do Nothing?” asked Pooh, after he had wondered for a long time.
“Well, it’s when people call out at you just as you’re going off to do it, What are you going to do, Christopher Robin, and you say, Oh, nothing, and then you go and do it.”

― A.A. Milne, The House at Pooh Corner

* * *

Photo by claire jones on Unsplash

Read Full Post »

What do you know, some people actually did read Playboy for the articles!

Read 10 of the Best Stories Ever Published in Playboy ‹ Literary Hub

…while Hefner was indeed a man who collected and commodified women and called it “feminism,” it doesn’t change the fact that the joke about reading Playboy for the articles isn’t really a joke. The magazine has published some fantastic interviews, essays, and—most importantly for our purposes here—fiction over the years, the latter thanks in part to expert fiction editor Alice K. Turner…

Since its inception, Playboy has published work by Vladimir Nabokov, James Baldwin, Shirley Jackson, Nadine Gordimer, Doris Lessing, John Updike, John Cheever, P. G. Wodehouse, Arthur C. Clarke, John Irving, Roald Dahl, Frank Herbert, Stephen King, Norman Mailer, Joyce Carol Oates, Philip K. Dick, Ray Bradbury, Annie Proulx, and many other greats.

Almost all of the stories on this list are available to read online (via sites that will not get you in trouble at work, bonus). So enjoy the classic fiction, folks, while appreciating the venues we now have for sci-fi and other fiction.

* * *

Photo by Bernd Klutsch on Unsplash

Read Full Post »

A drabble inspired by my love for science fiction. Also, the news.

Tipping Point, or, Oil Lobbyists Celebrate Over Drinks (London, UK, Earth)

Four oil lobbyists drank martinis around a mahogany table in a richly-appointed bar, celebrating. Their efforts had finally succeeded.

The lobbyist at the South end of the table grinned. 

“Did you see the news? 40C! God, we’re good.”

West puffed on a Cuban cigar. “They say it’s the new normal. I’d say we’re ready.” 

North shivered in the frigid air. “Agreed. Make the call.”

East opened a communicator that looked like a prop from Star Trek.

“Base? Terraforming is complete. Send the first wave of settlers.”

South looked at his fleshy fingers. 

“Can’t wait to get out of these clothes.”

* * *

Photo by Jarosław Kwoczała on Unsplash

Read Full Post »

Shopping

After many months, we are finally ready to start searching our local rescue for a new cat. Or two!

* * *

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »