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Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff: He Said, Foreshadowingly

In the latest episode of their always activated podcast, Ken and Robin talk sandbox encounters, our top 2019 movies, and the tomb of Christian Rosenkreutz.



  • Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff

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Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff: Not Quite Doctor Cowboy

In the latest episode of their pageant-like podcast, Ken and Robin talk where to start with Earth, your conspiracy bookshelf, Moina and Samuel Mathers, and The Rise of Skywalker.



  • Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff

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Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff: Shill for the Macedonians

In the latest episode of their multi-layered podcast, Ken and Robin talk narrative voices in RPG play, Whitey Bulger & MK-ULTRA, curse tablets, and Oswald Wirth & Stanislas de Guaita.



  • Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff

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Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff: Yell Down Into the Hollers

In the latest episode of their unswervingly loyal podcast, Ken and Robin talk Night's Black Agents vampire concealment, Gideon & Longknife, Robin's Yellow King novel, and Time Inc vs the Iowa caucuses.



  • Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff

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Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff: Existence Does Exist

In the latest episode of their safely sheltering podcast, Ken and Robin talk remote play tips, secret museum scans,  war movies you can nerdtrope into Yellow King RPG: The Wars scenarios, and USAF involvement in UFO patents.



  • Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff

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"Do It With a Rockstar"


...Меня вообще удивляет существование Аманды Палмер,

это эталонно скучное и бездарное существо, вошедшее
в историю тремя вещами: удачным замужеством,
публичной демонстрацией двух унылых сисек
(уважаю) и бездарным клипом с участием
охуенной когда-то
порноактрисы Стои (подрочил, но
без радости). Аманда Палмер провела начало 1990-х в том
же городе, что и я, надрачивала на ту же музыку, что и
я, и даже организовала концерт LPD, так что я ее
стопудов тогда видел. Меня часто беспокоит мысль,
что, по всем признакам, я такое же говно, как и
Аманда Палмер.

И вот я как-то посмотрел целый совместный концерт LPD и
Аманды Палмер,
был у меня такой печальный эпизод в
биографии. И в этот момент я понял, что Ка-Спел,
уважаемый, на сцене ничуть не менее уныл, чем сама Аманда,
и вообще ничем от нее не отличается. Схарчили деточку
голодные демоны бостонского офиса.

Думаю, поглощение Ка-Спела началось именно тогда,
в момент его первого приезда в Бостон, потому что
с тех пор он ничего, заслуживающего внимания, так
и не написал.

Привет




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Narbonic/Skin Horse Indoor Reading Promo

Shaenon: Indoors? Reading? Need piles of comics? For the length of all shelter-in-place advisories, all Narbonic and Skin Horse books you order from the Couscous Store will arrive signed and sketched by me. Stay safe, stay sane, read fun stuff.[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry...




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Sun Yang appeals to Swiss court over doping ban

Three-time Olympic champion Sun Yang has lodged an appeal an appeal to the Swiss federal court in an attempt to overturn his eight-year doping ban.




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Lance Armstrong and Bruce Lee 30 For 30 documentaries coming to ESPN Africa

ESPN will be releasing two brand new 30 For 30 documentaries in Africa in May and early June, telling the stories of cyclist Lance Armstrong and martial artist Bruce Lee.




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Je nárok na stravenku při home office? A co další benefity v době rouškové?

Místo zájezdu nové brýle a namísto pravidelné masáže konzultace s lékařem na dálku. Vládní opatření proti koronaviru změnila také čerpání zaměstnaneckých benefitů. Na rozdíl od výplat je však firmy nekrátí.



  • Finance - Práce a podnikání

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KVÍZ: Zatím ještě dotace, za dva roky pokuty. Víte, jak ušetřit výměnou kotle?

Od 1. září 2022 nebude možné provozovat kotle na tuhá paliva, které nevyhovují přísnějším emisním normám. Včasnou výměnou kotle můžete ušetřit. Nejenže snížíte náklady za topení, ale stihnete navíc využít státní dotaci na jeho pořízení. Víte, jak na to? Otestujte své znalosti.



  • Finance - Finanční rádce

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Ošetřovné se zvyšuje. Spočítejte si na kalkulačce, kolik nově dostanete

Ze 60 na 80 procent denního vyměřovacího základu vzroste ošetřovné pro rodiče, kteří zůstali doma s potomky v souvislosti s uzavřením škol a školek kvůli koronavirové krizi. Senát novelu schválil v úterý 28. dubna 2020. Předlohu nyní dostane k podpisu prezident Miloš Zeman. Spočítejte si orientačně na kalkulačce iDNES.cz, kolik dostanete.



  • Finance - Finanční rádce

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Je krize, šéfe, co bude dál? Teprve dnes se projeví, kdo je skutečný lídr

Podřízení na něj spoléhají v časech dobrých i zlých. A když přijdou opravdové těžkosti, záleží často jen na jeho schopnostech, jak moc se podnik otřese, nebo zda padne úplně.



  • Finance - Práce a podnikání

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Zaplatili jste letos dovolenou? Možná budete dotovat cestovní kancelář

Možnost cestování je silně omezená a nic zatím nenasvědčuje tomu, že by lidé v letošní letní sezoně mohli vyrazit na zahraniční dovolenou. Zároveň ale nikdo dnes ještě neví, zda se nějaká možnost přece jen neobjeví. Pokud jste si koupili dovolenkový zájezd, jste asi momentálně jako na trní. Pojedete? Vrátí vám peníze?



  • Finance - Finanční rádce

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Vyrábějí z vlastního ovoce. Perou se s přírodou, ale daří se jim i bez dotací

Sbírají jedno ocenění za druhým. Nejvíce si ale váží ocenění zákazníků. Své mošty a přesnídávky rodinná firma vyrábí v Bílých Karpatech, v místě, kde je příroda takřka nedotčená a čistá. Takové chtějí i své produkty.



  • Finance - Práce a podnikání

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Deviled Avocados ~ Raw Food Recipe




Super easy, this raw food mouthgasm takes just minutes from start to delicious eating. Avocados are in season right now, too, and at great prices. I've seen them locally for as low as $.88 each. These were $1.25 at a small area grocery store.




Full of the "good fat" ...





... they're also filling and incredibly satisfying. Have this for an easy breakfast that will keep you fueled until mid-day, as a light lunch, or as an anytime snack.  

Here's the recipe. You are literally minutes away from avocado heaven.
 

Deviled Avocados
serves 1 ~ $1.50 per serving

ingredients
  • 1 avocado, chopped ($1.25)
  • 1tablespoon finely chopped celery ($.05)
  • 1 tablespoon finely chopped onion ($.05)
  • 2 teaspoons mustard ($.05)
  • 2 teaspoons mayo  (use something like Veganaise or make your own) ($.10)
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon paprika
  • Lettuce and optional tomato for serving
directions
  • Coarsely chop the avocado, add the remaining ingredients, then stir gently until evenly incorporated. 
  • Store leftovers for up to a day or two in an air tight container.
  •  
nutritional information:       calories: 280       fat: 37 gr      carbs: 15 gr      protein: 3 gr







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Plague diary 23/03: Lockdown

Well, as they say, that escalated quickly.

Day 5 (Friday): Stayed home all day with jack. We ordered takeaway for our date night while we still can. The delivery guy wore a proper facemask.

Day 6 (Saturday): Woke up feeling kind of grim. Decided, on consultation with my partners, that I was fairly sure it was just a cold, so we agreed I would go ahead with my planned evening with cjwatson and the children.

In the morning I virtually 'attended' a livestreamed service, which is a really really new thing for my community who normally ban telecoms and electronics on the Sabbath. It was weird, but I felt good for praying with the community even if I wasn't actually interacting with them directly. In the afternoon I did a virtual play readthrough over Zoom, organized by the lovely wildeabandon. It was really really fun, and I got to see the faces of friends I haven't seen for ages, as well as a couple of internet acquaintances I had no mental image of previously. The play was Loves labours lost and I played a couple of small but fun roles, Lady Katharine, a slightly bitchy court woman, and Sir Nathaniel, a pompous curate.

And then I walked to my partners' house, and it was sunny and seemed basically normal. Plus I was feeling completely better by mid afternoon. I took a winding route to stay most of 2m away from any other pedestrians. We played Labyrinth and watched TV and I stayed the night.

In the morning (Sunday) there was more TV and another game, Robot turtles, a sort of cut-down, child-friendly version of Robo Rally, which the children have got much better at since we last played. And we walked part way together to metamour's house where there was mother's day planned, which I didn't join in with, I went home to jack. We went out to the local shop, I walked with him to enjoy the spring weather and he did the actual shopping, as I'm in theory more vulnerable than him.

Sunday evening I did my chevruta (traditional paired Jewish text study), which has always been online because my partner is in New York, and we had a long and pleasant video call with some old friends of jack's I don't see often enough.

Today, day 8, well, jack and I stayed home, mostly working. And anxiously watching the news of how most of the country treated the weekend as a bonus bank holiday and flocked to tourist spots and crowded into parks and gardens. It was kind of obvious the restrictions would have to get stricter, if that was how people were interpreting more gentle restrictions.

Then they cancelled the daily "briefing" (I haven't really been listening to them as it's mostly just our incompetent prime minister waffling with no substance) for a COBRA meeting. I carried out my intended plan of collecting Judith from OSOs' for a Hebrew lesson, and am I ever glad I did. Because as of an hour ago, and starting from tonight, we're no longer allowed out at all except for "essential" purposes. And we're explicitly no longer allowed to meet friends and family. So I don't know how long it will be before I get to hug my partners again.

In a way, lockdown isn't very different from how we were already behaving, with one vulnerable person in each of our three houses (me and metamour have asthma, girlfriend is pregnant). We were already going out only once a day for exercise, we were already only visiting shops to buy, like, food. But what it has taken away from us is that we can no longer bounce between the three houses, treating the polycule as a closed pod. I think our behaviour for the past week has been safe. If I walk a kilometre to my partners' house, that's no different from walking a kilometre in a random direction to get exercise. But the problem is everybody thinks they're an exception, (and multi-household poly relationships are never thought of in official rulings), so now it's forbidden.

The announcement says three weeks, but I think what's actually going to happen is that people will again not take the restrictions seriously and it will have to be extended.

Personal status: I thought I was doing ok, and the tighter restrictions are almost certainly necessary and not really a surprise. But it hurts.
Social circle tally: three cases, including one person I see face to face (though not for at least a month). 8 mostly online acquaintances with suspicious symptoms.

comments




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Why do posts have to have a 'title'?

Hi,

Not too much to add this month. A new direct flight to Montreal this summer popped up, so we took a trip there last weekend. I had never been, and it is a fun city, with good food, beer, music, geodesic domes, and other things. I always try to participate in a local running race if I can, and there was a small 10k fundraiser near the Olympic stadium. I managed a 43m39s (about 7 min/mile), which is not bad for an old guy, finishing in 11th place. It's not like I was just out for a jog, but I certainly didn't put maximum effort here, because I also wanted to enjoy the rest of my vacation day and anyway I retired from the 10k distance in post 990. I used to think that I was never going to be able to beat the times that I recorded in my late 20s when I felt young. But the decade+ of regularly running hard must have some long-term effects, because I'm pretty sure I could have run 6m30s miles here without dying, and perhaps with a death effort (not to mention losing 10 pounds or so) I could have set a personal record. This also happened with a 5k I did a couple years ago. Good to not feel washed up, but of course this is just talk unless I prove it!

Speaking of old, I'll probably turn 40 before the next post (September 27)!

I have been getting deep into this project described in the previous post, but which remains confidential, as they do. But it finally gave me a reason to get an oscilloscope! I have a lot of traveling to do in September so I'm unlikely to finish it (and video, etc.), but the project is still very much in the fun state, so maybe that's good news for me.

Almost out of time to even finish this post before the month expires. But brief recommendations: I've been playing and liking Dicey Dungeons. It is good and has a very wholesome and pleasant style. Sometimes you need that. I also really like the new album called Anak Ko by Jay Som. Great production, songwriting, vocals, everything.




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Get up, get up and get down

I work from home, and the marvelous company for which I work gave me a VariDesk standing desk. I can adjust it to either a standing position or a sitting position, and I do so multiple times per day. Sitting now being the thing that’s going to kill us, I try to make sure I […]




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one month down

January is a hunkering month. I get out when I can, stay home when I can’t, keep the sun box pointed at my face, and work on Wikipedia, learning new things and giving other people the chance to learn about my world. The #Lib1Ref campaign is happening, I’m barely paying attention to it, but it’s as […]




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Unitree A1 Robot Dog














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Donald Duck government

When reading The Times one does not know if one should laugh or cry. Malta government seems more and more like a Donald Duck government, a joke, with government officials, sadly including members of the Judicial, being so dishonest that it is difficult to comprehend. The government officials seem so eager to be just bigwigs that they have forgotten who they are put to serve.The judicial system seems to be in a mess.

The Observer just wants to give a few examples from todays The Times.

Once more a new bribery probe is ongoing against Transport Malta officials.
This governmental body seems to be one of the most dishonest not only in Malta but in the whole EU. This time the bribery inquiry concerns three officials so far, but in 2010 another three officials and 230 other people were charged in connection with hundreds of driving licenses granted to people who had not even sat for a test. This proves that The Observer was absolutely right in the article “Traffic in Malta, a risky business” of Feb 14, although some of the licenses have been seized by the police. However, one thing was not correct; the driving licenses are not issued by Disney World or come with the cereal packages from Scotts, but are issued by Transport Malta against a monetary compensation. This way of giving out driving licenses must surely be promoting road safety in Malta.


Malta has a very old fashioned system for ensuring that people can show that they are entitled to vote in the coming council election. Policemen deliver the documents to every single voter in person. This means that the policemen knock doors for several weeks; no wonder that there are more policemen in Malta in relation to the size of the population than in most EU countries. In Sliema the police have failed to deliver documents to 58 % of the voters.

Since Sliema is said to be a PN stronghold one can wonder if this is one more situation in which bribes are occurring. A policeman who delivers documents in Sliema and is a convinced PL supporter can easily neglect to deliver in areas with strong support for PN. The Observer does not state that this is the case but has a time saving suggestion that also will exclude the possibility of bribes; Malta should modernize its system and this is very easily done. Malta has computerized lists of the population which easily can be sorted (if not this has been done already) by place of residence in voting lists. People then just have to show their ID cards when coming to the polls and be ticked off. The present system is just ridiculous.

The Observer just want to stress what is said in the article of Feb 15, “Reflections on the judicial system in Malta” by referring to the following articles in The Times of today. Here.

And do not forget to look into this one!




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Why Do The Good Die Young?

Why Do The Good Die Young?

I thought back to the summer when I was eleven years old, after my father had discovered making money and had moved us “on up” from the dregs of Weehawken, New Jersey, situated on the ass end of the Lincoln Tunnel to the posh suburb, Englewood Cliffs just north of the George Washington Bridge.

I Mean…What?!?




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Kans op 2e golf, maar contactopsporing moet 2e lockdown vermijden: bekijk de beste fragmenten uit "Het coronadebat" - VRT NWS

  1. Kans op 2e golf, maar contactopsporing moet 2e lockdown vermijden: bekijk de beste fragmenten uit "Het coronadebat"  VRT NWS
  2. Het Corona Debat met Marc Van Ranst, Erika Vlieghe, Maggie De Block (Open Vld), Bart De Wever (N-VA) en anderen  De Morgen
  3. 'We moeten tijd winnen tot vaccin er is'  De Standaard
  4. Het grote coronadebat: “We moeten tijd winnen tot vaccin er is”  Het Belang van Limburg
  5. Hele verhaal bekijken via Google Nieuws





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173 gestrande Belgen eindelijk thuis na quarantaine in Tenerife: “Regering liet ons aan ons lot over. We hebben twee maanden op ons terras moeten doorbrengen” - Het Laatste Nieuws

  1. 173 gestrande Belgen eindelijk thuis na quarantaine in Tenerife: “Regering liet ons aan ons lot over. We hebben twee maanden op ons terras moeten doorbrengen”  Het Laatste Nieuws
  2. 173 gestrande Belgen eindelijk thuis na quarantaine in Tenerife: “Regering heeft te weinig gedaan!”  Het Laatste Nieuws
  3. Na quarantaine in Tenerife: 173 Belgen eindelijk weer thuis  De Morgen
  4. Belgen die vastzaten op Tenerife charterden zelf vliegtuig naar huis  De Standaard
  5. West-Vlaming regelt repatriëring gestrande Belgen  Focus en WTV
  6. Hele verhaal bekijken via Google Nieuws





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Didn't We Just Do This?

.


And the answer is: Yes, we did. Last week. But Open Road Media is putting The Iron Dragon's Daughter on e-sale again. $1.99 on this Wednesday, April 1, only. I don't have to tell you what holiday that is. But apparently they really mean it.

I expect most people who read this blog and wanted an e-copy of that book got one during last week's sale. But I publicize the event for two reasons:

1) Writers should always be as cooperative to their publishers as they can stand being.

2) Maybe the reason for this promotion is that they're putting a lot of books on sale at once.

If you're an ebook reader, you might want to look into the second possibility. Or maybe subscribe to one of the newsletters below.

Here's the e-letter they sent me, with all the boilerplate:
                         
Dear Michael Swanwick,

We are pleased to let you know that the following ebook(s) will be featured in price promotions soon.


ISBN13 Title Author Promo Type Country Start Date End Date Promo Price
9781504025669 The Iron Dragon's Daughter Swanwick, Michael ORM - Portalist NL US 2020-04-01 2020-04-01 $1.99
9781504025669 The Iron Dragon's Daughter Swanwick, Michael ORM - Portalist NL CA 2020-04-01 2020-04-01 $1.99


Open Road will promote the feature via social media. We hope you can share the deal with your network as well. You can subscribe to the newsletters at the links below so that you will get the direct link to the deal on the day that it appears.


Newsletter Link
  Early Bird Books     Subscribe Now  
The Lineup Subscribe Now
The Portalist Subscribe Now
Murder & Mayhem Subscribe Now
A Love So True Subscribe Now
The Archive Subscribe Now
The Reader Subscribe Now


Please let us know if you have any questions. We are thrilled to be part of this promotion; hope you are too!

Best,
The Open Road Editorial Team

*                          




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Top 10 Friday Night SmackDown moments: WWE Top 10, May 8, 2020

Top 10 Friday Night SmackDown moments: WWE Top 10, May 8, 2020




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Mordor Shield and Banner Designs


These were gathered from everywhere from many different references. A lot of the bottom ones I created to be designs orcs themselves could have come up with, rough and crude.



  • lord Of The Rings

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Locking Down Pittsburgh

I feel like I should be writing in here more given the historicness of everything happening right now. But mostly I’m just tired and want things to stop being so terrible. And it’s only like week three or whatever. In … Continue reading




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My Dog Rescue

How can people be so mean to helpless animals?  While visiting my friends on Earth over Thanksgiving, I was taking a walk and Tra and I saw a dog abandoned in a box in the cold.  She had finished nursing her puppies and so the people who owned her just turned her out in the […]






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Don't Be Surprised if it Doesn't Flush

I think they spent all their money on the fancy toilet paper. ~NSHA




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Don’t Go Forth




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Mad Max My Darkest Days Come Undone

One of the people that I'm subscribed to on YouTube a while back did a tribute video to this song by My Darkest Days to the new Robin Hood movie starring Russell Crowe. I thought this song would be a perfect match to the Mad Max trilogy




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Doomsday Meat Sandwich

What do you get when you mix The Road Warrior, Escape From New York, plus a handful of other related movies.......you get Doomsday. The cannibal scenes in this movie inspired me to do a fan tribute video to Gwar's Meat Sandwich




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The Wolfman What Have You Done

I’m a huge fan of horror movies and movies about things that go bump in the night. The Wolfman is one of my favourites and one of the best werewolf movies to come out in a long time. For this video I was originally going to use the song Du Riechst So Gut (translated from German means you smell so good) by the band Rammstein.




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How To Autoplay Videos And Why You Don't Want To

How to get your YouTube videos to auto play on your website Depending on your site having your videos auto play can help your site stand out. When it comes to embedding your videos from YouTube however there’s no feature to set up your video to auto play. It’s important to remember before you enable auto play on your videos that doing so can actually harm your site. Many people don’t like videos or music playing as soon as they open a page, especially if there’s no way to turn it off that’s easy to spot. Look at your site to see if this is something that you want to do.