I am trying to convince myself that I do not need a "Space Bastard" shirt.


International Electrophonic Unit

It expires Sunday, with some other bit of Ellis madness going up Monday.

How to reproduce the cravat knot seen on Charles Babbage here. It's also the same knot used by Doc Cochran on Deadwood.

Babbage's version uses a relatively stiff fabric, and a cravat that is roughly the same width throughout. Cochran uses the same knot with a softer fabric.

Instructions on the knot can be found here. It's basically the same as tying a bowtie, if you happen to know how to do that.

The cravat in the instruction set is widens towards the end, which will give the nice puffy bow instead of the severe one Babbage wore.

...
...
...
Damn. I think this means I really am a costuming geek, doesn't it?
Now I need to make some more cravats with a variety of fabrics, widths and styles...

Leave me a comment saying "Resistance is Futile."
• I'll respond by asking you five questions so I can satisfy my curiosity.
• Update your journal with the answers to the questions.
• Include this explanation in the post and offer to ask other people questions.

From corwin77

1. How many games are you running at ACUS this year?
At least one, perhaps two.

2. If there is a Dude! sequel this year what would you like to see it involve?
Something featured in a scooby doo cartoon or Buffy episode - body switching, clones or something like that. For variety!

3. If I run my Future Soon game what character will you play?
Someone with goggles.

4. Have you read any D&D 4th ed. and why do you think it sucks most?
I read all the previews. I think it's just waiting for WOW to have better RP to replace it entirely. It's too strategically focussed.

5. Why have you never found/run a completely monkey based RPG?
Wait, Dude isn't monkey based?

Leave me a comment saying "Resistance is Futile."
• I'll respond by asking you five questions so I can satisfy my curiosity.
• Update your journal with the answers to the questions.
• Include this explanation in the post and offer to ask other people questions.

laura_sm asked me:

1. Where/when/how did your enjoyment of costumes, outfits, and dressing up begin? Have you always enjoyed playing with clothing?

Really, I never outgrew playing dress-up as a kid. It's a big part of what drew me into being a goth, and certainly what kept me in the scene after I stopped being an angstbunny.

2. If you had all the time/money in the world, and all the skills, what piece(s) of clothing would you create?

Wow. Well, there's a few items here, and I can think of dozens more. Had I time, budget and skill I'd probably come out with a full line of weird every season.

3. If you suddenly had an unexpected day off, what would you do with it?

If it were just me with the day off, probably spend the day playing games or wasting time online, maybe with a long mid-day gym visit.

4. What would be your perfect job?

Making stuff. But, not always the same stuff. Coding, writing, costuming, etc. - it's all about creating something. Practically speaking, something where I can write code with occasional more visual stuff (CSS, web design, etc.) at a place where they don't care what I wear, some place within TTC range would be lovely.

5. Where does the nickname curgoth come from?

Curgoth was a super-villain for a comic that a friend and I were going to put out in the 90s. It was a sort of Image-style X-men ripoff. Curgoth (originally pronounced Sur-Gawth) was a black-skinned demon with clawed fingers and fire breath. I started using the name on BBSes, and later the internet, when I decided that "Blood Razor" (our super teams' Wolverine ripoff) was too ridiculously metal for a nickname. The pronunciation change to Kur-Goth came from a kid at a club in KW in 97 or 98. By the time I got around to thinking about it, I'd been using the name for quite a while, and I've never run into anyone else using it.

Somethign to pass around - a Vancouver polyamory group is looking for folks to step forward and be "intervenors". Basically, they want folks to go on record as living in poly households. They want folks who have more than one partner that they live with.

Polyamory in the News: Canadian legal action: a call for polys to testify

There will be more in this ficton. I will need a name for it eventually.

( No name for this ficton yet )

What Do I Do With... is a web app for determining how to properly dispose of your junk. The only problem I have is that it seems to fail for appartments - it'll tell me how to dispose of electronics at curbside for houses and residential voer commercial, but not for appartment buildings. Also, their list of waste depots only has addresses, no maps. I can look it up, but having them show me where they are would simplify things.

I think we're up to four or five dead computers in our place. Space is beginning to be an issue.

As suggested by mcroft: The Buggy Future

( The Buggy Future )

I always seem to do fine until I hit the first weekend. Ah well.

Steampunk photoroam. There may have been a little photoshop in a couple pics.

Tired due to almost too much weekend.

Friday and Saturday during the day were low key. The excitement started with dinner with the LizRents at Terroni. Next was Dark Rave, getting to bed around 4:30am. I was up at around 8:30, and down in Chinatown for dim sum with olletho and crew for 10:30. By 2pm, I was at the Toronto Steampunk Society meetup for photoroaming the Distillery District. We are a bunch of hams. Also, steampunks + segways == hilarity. We are considering going back at some point and renting a pack of them. The five step rule was in effect for a good chunk of the roam - take five steps and another group of people with cameras materialize and take aim. My pics will be up... eventually. This set needs some photoshopping to insert the zeppelin and lasers.

Dinner at Fionn's rounded out the weekend. An early bed time produced extra sleep, though not quite enough - still wiped this morning.

On the plus side, I have learned a valuable skill - making weak tea. If I make tea with 1 tsp of leaves per cup, the tea is weak enough that I can still sleep at night. Before, my habit was to use 1 tbsp or more per cup, and I used to steep it longer.

As suggested by corbet; "From the closet, there came a soft 'ook.'"

( ook )

Try to catch all the lyrics references!


( The Singer )

the bandwidth of graffiti just got a lot higher.

Make a QR code ("2d barcode"), then have it fabbed with a 3d printer on a rubber stamp. Go and stamp your QR code all over. The QR code can be text, a vcard, or, more usefully, a URL.

At mycrazyhair's request;

( Happy Robot Bees, Damnit! )

Via Seventh Sanctum's Writing Challenge Generator: "The story must have a traveler in it. A character gives birth. A character becomes sad during the story. During the story, a character finds a long-lost friend."

Post-gender pronouns are a bitch.

( Transhuman Blues )

I am also accepting short descriptions or phrases for turning into microfic.

If I get really stuck, I may also use Wondermark's Fiction Generator.

Last week, at the gym, I found a re d gel cap on the floor. I picked it up and took a look at the pill.

Novofen, which according to the internets is an estrogen inhibitor. Part of a steroid regimen.

I no longer feel quite so bad about not being as built as the other guys at the gym who go as often as I do.

When I get sick, I feel fine in the morning, and increasingly crappy a the day goes on.

Blergh.

I should be making soup.

This is a relatively simple if time consuming recipe for Dal Puri (aka Dal Poori).

Stage one: the lentils! (because there has to be lentils).

Take some split moong dal and soak 'em for two hours. I was running low on moong dal so supplemented with some red lentils. The important thing is to use small lentils.

Then toss the lentils in a pot with some water, a whole clove of garlic and some spices (I used a Jamaican curry powder of cumin, coriander and turmeric, along with salt and chilli flakes).
Then, you cook the hell out of it. You want it to be a thick paste when you're done. Near the end, you'll have to stir almost constantly to keep it from burning.
The end goal is to have a paste thick enough that you can roll it into a ball.
This is why it's best to do this stage well beforehand, so it has time to cool enough to be handled. I did mine the night before.
Some of the online recipes suggested putting the lentils through a food processor, but I suspect that's more useful if you're in a hurry.

Stage two: the bread.

3 cups of flour
3/4 tsp of baking powder
a pinch of salt
a pinch of sugar
probably about a tsp of oil
"some" water.

Sift the flour, salt, sugar and baking powder together.
Add the oil.
Add a bit of water at a time and knead until you have dough.
The dough should be dry, and not sticky. If it is still sticky, go back and knead it until it is.
Make a lump of dough and drizzle with some more oil.
Cover and let sit for 30 minutes.

Knead the dough some more.
Roll the dough out into a big flat thing (shape doesn't matter yet)
Cut the dough up into equal parts. I made four.
Now take each lump of dough, and make it flat and round.
Shape it into a cup.
Make a ball of lentil paste, and drop it in the cup.
Pull the edges of the cup over so that you have a round ball of dough completely encasing the lentils.

Let sit for another 30 minutes.

Roll each ball out into a flat circle. If you do it perfectly, no lentil paste will escape. In practice, just shove it back into the dough and no one will notice.
Fry the suckers in melted butter or earth balance in a big flat pan with a thick bottom. I brushed melted earth balance on mine.
Cook 'em until they brown on the bottom, then do the other side. In theory, there is some visible bubbling, but in practice I just used a flipper to check how the bottom was doing.

i justify this as simple because there are no complex chemical or biological processes going on - I didn't have to bloom yeast, just sift in baking powder.
It's even healthy until you fry it in butter! You could probably dry cook it on a nice griddle or something, but it wouldn't be quite so tasty.