Scribefire is handy.

testtessesetTesting scribefire, a firefox extension i just got. Oh and stumble upon is awesome.

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Psych

Stuck in a psych hospital again due to my own failings. I am wondering if you have ever been in a psych hospital? It's not at all like the movies/popular culture portrays it.
Just people trying to sort out their lives and live, even if they tried to take their life before.
Suicide is a serious issue, and perhaps I will provide links soon, but please listen to a suicidal friend and try to get professional help if you can.

I'm finally hole again.

I'm finally hole again.

I'm finally hole again.

Canada's Next Top Model

Oi. Canada's Next Top Model is.... ugh... a real experience. Review coming as soon as I can see the crapisode.
The horrors.
The horrors.

FINALLY!!! Free-association

The new, ad-free Tribe-like website. It's still small at the moment, but a great opportunity to jump in at the beginning of the beast:
Free Association Net

Free online Pain Diary

For those of us who suffer from chronic pain of any sort, life can be particularly frustrating. I've always wanted to track my pain symptoms, but lose notebooks easily and didn't really have a thorough standardized way of doing it. Tracking your symptoms is important to recognize and patterns or progressions in your illness.

There is a great, free website to do just that: Online Pain Diary

Now the only trick will be remembering to update it on a regular basis.

Penis News

I've read so much penis news that I am immune to most of it. Angry wife chops off husband's penis? No big deal.

Man severing his own penis? Good stuff. From the New Straits Times here:
"It is unclear whether the wife delivered the unkind cut or whether the injury was self-inflicted.
According to the couple’s eldest son, it was the latter. He said his father mutilated himself to prove he was not unfaithful."

His wife, who instigated the event with her anger over a text message from another woman, was kind and sweet enough to drive him to the ER. He'll be fine. Who knew fixing a penis could be so easy.

I only wonder if she finally believed in his devotion to her and only her.

More penis (and perhaps vagina) news to come.

Quote of the day

Close your eyes and listen, ... then walk twenty paces farther than you thought neccessary. Just when you're certain you've lost your way completely, you'll be there. Open your eyes.

-alice hoffman, the probable future

Reviews on CD Baby completely useless

No negative reviews on CD baby!!

According to CD Baby, they are "a little online record store that sells CDs by independent musicians." Their basic process is "We only sell CDs that come directly from the musicians. No distributors. Musicians send us CDs. We warehouse them, sell them to you, and pay the musicians directly." Sounds awesome, no?

You can browse tons of CDs and hopefully find one you like. You write reviews of CDs as well, giving them a rating and posting a comment. Sounds good, right? Well, it's all good as long as your review is positive. Otherwise, forget it. I reviewed a CD as mediocre and my review never went through. Here is my e-mail exchange with CD Baby as I'm trying to figure out why my review wasn't being posted.

My initial inquiry:
Date: Fri, 7 Jan 2005 19:57:15 -0800 [01/07/2005 19:57:15 PDT]
From: xxxx@tentacle.net
To: cdbaby@cdbaby.com
Subject: reviews?

hi;
who decides which reviews go up? you or the artist?

thanks,
xxxxx

Their respose:
Date: Sun, 09 Jan 2005 09:21:57 -0800 [01/09/2005 09:21:57 PDT]
From: CD Baby
To: xxxxx@tentacle.net
Subject: Re: reviews?
Hey there xxxxx-
We have editors that look over them before posting. If the artist ever wants one taken down, though, they can just let us know and we'll delete it :)

After further questioning they sent me this:
Date: Fri, 14 Jan 2005 11:52:37 -0800 [01/14/2005 11:52:37 PDT]
From: CD Baby
To: nef23
Subject: Re: reviews?

Hi xxxxx-

We do not leave a spot for your email, because we do not want to post your info.

We do have to check the reviews before they are posted.
Really the reason we wouldn't post a review is if you were really mean, or it was not a
real review.

It does take some time for these to be posted as we get hundreds everyday.
:-)
TyKona
*************************

So if a review is "mean" or the artist wants it taken down, it's gone. This effectively makes reviews pointless because you can only make positive reviews not negative ones. How is this a review system at all? If someone honestly thinks an album is not good, why can't they articulate that AND manage to get that on an artist's CD Baby page?

Rooted

This blog is just getting going and so far has little content. The directions it may take are many...

Manifesting, manifesting, manifesting.

Do you know what a pearl is and what an opal is? My soul when you came sauntering to me first through those sweet summer evenings was beautiful but with the pale passionless beauty of a pearl. Your love passed through me and now I feel very much something like an opal, that is, full of strange uncertain lines and colors, warm lights and quick shadows and broken music.

(james joyce in a letter to his wife)

Gospel of Judas

Judas seen as Jesus' collaborator, not his betrayer
Early Christian manuscript portrays him as favored disciple who was told he'd be 'cursed by the other generations'
This makes sense because (if you believe the Bible) Jesus was destined by God, his father, to die. Apparently, Judas followed Jesus' request so that the the cruxifiction would take place.

The Coptic Gospel of Judas
Has text from the Gospel of Judas.

Catholics are unmoved by the Gospel of Judas. Here at catholic.org one Jesuit says it shouldn't even be called a Gospel.
An excerpt:
Father O'Collins said the most important thing about the text released in early April is that "it shows just how right Irenaeus was in saying the gnostics were against mainstream Christianity and Judaism, they were against our God."

"To give Judas greater credit," the Jesuit said, the gnostics "portray Jesus giving him secret knowledge.”

“It was a nice try," he said, adding that there is no evidence to support the claim.

"It was junk then and it is junk now," he said.

I got blogged!

My picture of my Roland SH-1000 got blogged here by Matrixsyth.

Here's the pic: