It's been quite a while since I've done a "Things amaze me, my mind is blown!"-type post and it's high time!

So check this out. Scientists were able to revive super-tiny bacteria that were frozen for 120,000 years. That's simultaneously very cool and perhaps ever-so-vaguely worrisome, since that is how sci-fi movies start, after all. BTW, anyone else think of the original opening of Power Rangers when reading that? "After 10,000 120,000 years, I'm free! Time to conquer Earth!" What hath man wrought?! :O

But that's not even the biological tidbit that really blew my mind upon running into it recently. Please to be reading about the Turritopsis nutricula, AKA, the Immortal Jellyfish. You see, this creature actually reverses its life cycle after reproducing, thereby avoiding the death that usually await jellyfish at that stage, and it seems they may be able to lather, rinse, repeat indefinitely. Your mind is blown too, am I right? :D

If there is one person or more on your friends list who makes your world a better place just because they exist and who you would not have met (in real life or not) without the internet, then post this same sentence in your journal.

I'm... really not a great LJ friend. I don't comment around anywhere near as much as intended and go through long phases where I sort of drop off the radar and hardly make my presence known at all. (And you guys, if you don't hear from me, it's seriously because of my own issues, not because I don't like you anymore or something.) But I'm deeply glad to have met all of you and my world is definitely a better place for it.

The first TEN people to comment in this post get to request a drabble(/sketch) of any pairing/character of their choosing from me. In return, they have to post this in their journal, regardless of their ability level. If you absolutely can't write, I don't see why you wouldn't be able to offer drawings or icons or something instead.

Swiped from sir_hellsing

Addendum I : Fandoms you may choose from include anything you've seen me talk about or listed in my interests. Just ask if you're not sure if I know of it.

Addendum II: I reserve the right to make the response a graphic of some kind (sketch or icon) if I can't write about it. If I feel either is doable, I'll give you the option to pick.

Romance is a highly subjective thing. What warms the cockles of one person's heart can send the next person's cockles recoiling with a "Ew, that's just gross."

But I think most of us can agree that these guys are really, really doin' it wrong. (Although the first guy did sort of warm me... from all the lawling I was doing. The rest are less lolarious in their epic fail.)

(Site linked to me by the darling Sara.)

After reading a few of those, this song popped into my head for some reason (I guess it's vaguely related?), so it should be shared, too. And also because I f'ing love these videos:

They should invent a computer program that allows you to define modes of discussion you'd like to avoid engaging in, and if the program detects patterns in your typing to suggest you are, in fact, engaging in such a discussion, gives you a shock through your keyboard. That way you can say "I'm not going to discuss this further" and follow it with "Because my keyboard will hurt me."

Then headaches can be avoided all around! :D

=/

Also, SARA, if you see happen to see this entry: THAT VAMPIRE HIGH SHOW IS TERRIBLE.

I just got a spam email advertising free overnight shipping on Crocs.

1) Who the hell buys Crocs off the internet?

2) If you're buying Crocs... you should pay shipping.

I fucking hate math. :/

Yoinked from mollypocket:

Explain your RP usernames? OK.

( Cut for length. )

I love you.




_

I NEED to share with you what shadmere shared with me. Srsly, just watch it:

I made a Hellsing RP dressing room sort of on a whim last night, because it occurred to me that the fandom didn't have one. Would anyone like to be a co-mod/maintainer? I know these things are generally free-form, but my modding experience is kinda lacking and it would good to have at least one other mod around in case there's a problem and I can't get to it in a timely fashion.

So, any takers?

The comm is question is here: hellsingdrssing

A really boring one, actually. It's a combination of my first name (Rachel) and middle name (Kathryn) that my parents have called me pretty much forever. I'd gone through several other internet aliases over the years before it and settled on this one with the idea that if someone were to give me a nickname based on my username (as happens) that it would be something based on my actual name, and therefore something I'd respond to better than some of the ones I'd been given in the past.

So, yeah. Pretty dull.

Swiped from abaddonnox. I think it's accurate in some ways, but not so much in others:

( And my daemon is... )

If anyone wondered if I'd dropped off the face of the planet for a while, the answer is no, my computer was just le broke and my internet access was sporadic. Fortunately, I was able to get it fixed and didn't lose anything on it. Though the fellow that fixed it suggested I reformat (after seeing how slow it was while booting up) to try stretching a couple more years out of the ol' girl before her hard drive dies, which I'm inclined to think is a good idea, even if the process is major pain in the rear.

I also managed to get the plague* for a few weeks, so that didn't really help things. But that seems to be more or less gone now. Finally.

Otherwise, there's not much to report, really. Job and life situation remains the same and kinda depressing, so there's no point getting into that.

Writing and RP-wise, besides the computer and health issues, I've been feeling blocked and haven't been able to get anything done, which is frustrating, because I do have some story ideas I'd like to finish. As for RP, I can't seem to commit to anywhere lately, so no idea what I'll be doing with that, though I do miss it.

On a brighter note, I made cookies (multicultural, to honor both sides of the family) over the holidays and they came out kinda awesome, so at least I got to feel domestically accomplished.

( Pictures )

*Not really the plague.

On the one hand, I am extremely dismayed over the state of same-sex marriage bans in Florida, Arizona, and California.

There are no valid reasons for that. At all.

On the other hand? Blue Florida, Democratic majorities in the Senate and House, and President-Elect Barack Obama.



Yes, we freaking did. :D

This has been the kind of night that reminds you that amazing things really can happen. They might take a very long time, but eventually people can get over outdated, illogical prejudices, and tomorrow can look brighter for it.

So I choose to look at this glass as half-full right now.

Yesterday, I totally meant to get a post up in honor of National Coming Out Day, but then I had some stuff to do and this huge headache and didn't get around to it, so I'll just celebrate it belatedly: Hey, guys? I'm gay. It's been hinted at in a couple of entries, and some of you already knew, but a fair of amount of you probably didn't, so there you go.

Hope that doesn't weird anyone out?


Anyway, meme time. This one was taken from ariyanaforever:

(  Fandom Sins Meme )

The state's Supreme Court also ruled that civil unions do not provide the same rights as those given to heterosexual married couples.

"Interpreting our state constitutional provisions in accordance with firmly established equal protection principles leads inevitably to the conclusion that gay persons are entitled to marry the otherwise qualified same sex partner of their choice," Justice Richard N. Palmer wrote in the majority opinion that overturned a lower court finding.

"To decide otherwise would require us to apply one set of constitutional principles to gay persons and another to all others," Palmer wrote.

Just in time for National Coming Out Day tomorrow, too. Nice. ♥

Someone did a literal version of A-ha's "Take On Me" video and it is utterly fantastic.

( Pipe wrench fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight...... )

Strange but true fact, the original version of this song always inexplicably makes me want to cry. I was theorizing to shadmere that it's partly because the singer kinda sounds like he's about to cry and also because it brings up memories of watching the video as an impressionable young child on MTV with its weepy actors and 3D/2D luv being nearly thwarted by ev0l pipe wrench villians.

melvindecourse and samualurwin?

I got a comment from each of them on post made over a year ago that had nothing to do with anything on the page. WTF, is some form of spambot I've yet to hear of?

Anyway, I was running errands earlier and a lizard stayed on my car's back windshield the WHOLE TIME. Either she was especially lazy or especially smart. Given the size and simplicity of their brains, most likely the former, but lizard went on a magical journal and eventually ended up back home.

Yes, I know it was a she because I had to go stare at her up close at the end of the trip (she looked like this) and she didn't have one of those display strips of skin on her throat. Because I'm a nerd like that.

Last week I had a frog in my closet. In my bedroom. WTF. I have no idea how it even got in there because my bedroom door is almost always shut. Lying in bed that morning, I became aware of something rustling around the closet and wondered if it was really big roach or maybe even a rat, and as I slooooowly approached to look, one of these bounced out.

I eventually caught it and released it by the bushes outside. It stayed still for a couple minutes after leaving the box, so I plucked a couple dust bunnies that had gotten on the little guy off, because when not hopping around my stuff it was actually rather cute, even though it, like the lizard, was of an invasive species and from an environmental standpoint, I should have euthanized it instead. It's just... they have big eyes and... and... ;_;

I also saw two Gopher Tortoises today.

Sometimes, I really like Florida. But not right now, because it's raining. Again.
EDIT: Aw hell, the back room just flooded. Again.

Game recommendations?

I'm not sure exactly what I'm looking for yet, so link me anything. Please? :D