Truck? No!

I'm not really in a lot of pain this morning, just very sore. But since my post-op instructions do not allow me to eat hot food, spit, rinse, or drink from a straw for 24 hours, and advise against activities that cause stress, discretion is the better part of dental care.

I also look like I was bitten by a were-chipmunk.

Since speaking is a bit difficult, I had Kirsten call in for me. When I call in sick, Tim the Boss gives me a hard time. Kiri calls in and describes what's going on? "Poor guy."

I love my coworkers.

So, the weekend is going to be spent focusing on healing and un-swelling the gums.

Long time, no penguins

I guess an alarm clock and a fresh pot of coffee just won't do it.

To wake up a penguin, just step on its foot

Only recently did people learn how much pressure it takes to rouse a sleeping penguin. Gérard Dewasmes and Frédéric Telliez, of l'Université de Picardie Jules Verne in Amiens, lay claim to the discovery.

Dewasmes and Telliez went to the Antarctic, where they tiptoed up to nearly a dozen dozing King penguins. Their study, published in the Journal of Sleep Research, is an eye-opener for anyone who dreams of becoming expert in the fine details of bird arousal.

Very few scientists had even ventured to prod penguins, measuring how much or little pain or noise would induce a rise-and-shine response. Dewasmes and Telliez sought a subtler kind of knowledge, and took a gingerly approach. Their study explains, albeit politely, that earlier studies were sloppy and imprecise.

In the summer of 1998, Dewasmes and Telliez examined King penguins breeding at the Baie du Marin colony on Possession Island in the Crozet Archipelago. This involved a certain amount of uncertainty. "It was impossible to distinguish among the selected birds," they confide, adding that "it was also impossible to differentiate the sex of the selected birds since this can be determined only when they sing".

Sometimes they used a mechanical contraption that applied pressure to sleeping penguins' backs. Other times, they placed small calibrated weights on to the feet of snoozing penguins. For consistency, Dewasmes and Telliez devised a standard way to decide whether a penguin was asleep or awake: "An arousal began by eye opening to scan the environment. Systematically, the bird next lifted its head to perceive the origin of the disturbance. Locating the experimenter, it then escaped more or less rapidly."

This really sounds like something they cooked up while either really desperate or really stoned.

I want to see this "mechanical contraption" designed to poke a penguin.

Kirsten, is there something you forgot to tell me?

OK, that was weird.

I just had someone ring the doorbell. Expecting the usual attempt to sell me strawberries/pirated DVDs/tamales, I answered. The guy outside was Asian, spoke very poor English, and seemed convinced that our apartment was up for rent because we were moving. He actually tried to push in saying "I just look at rooms, OK?" Hell no!

After much confusion, I think I convinced him that no, we were not vacating the place at the end of next week (one look at the lack of boxes, full bookshelves and masses of CDs and DVDs on the entertainment shelf should have been a good clue) and he really needed to confirm that he was at the right place.

The only reason I'm even answering the door is Thousand Suns shipped a few days ago, so it might get here today.

Oh, I forgot to mention..

I got to keep my teeth. I'm keeping all of them, and probably working them into a Hammer's Slammers costume.

Follow Me.

I've tried, on occasion, to explain how someone can be proud of their military service even when they may disagree with the mission, the current government or even the existence of the state they are fighting for. These arguments, usually at cons, tend to met with blank looks. I've been having more of them over the past few years as I try to explain the concept of "oppose the war, support the troops" to my more rabid liberal friends who equate serving with making national policy.

David Drake is a SF writer probably best known for the Hammer's Slammers series. Mr. Drake is a Vietnam Veteran, having spent most of 1970 in-country with the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment - The Blackhorse one of the more storied units of the US Army.

I just finished The Tank Lords, the collection of Hammer's stories that Drake has suggested be read first, and in the back he has placed an afterword seeking to clarify his position on several issues. Being a veteran who writes what some would see as fiction that glorifies combat (these people have never read a word of his work) he explains his views of Vietnam, a soldier's role, and the growing tendency among those of a certain age to bemoan "missing out" on Vietnam. I really urge everyone to get this book if only for this essay (the stories a freaking excellent, and yeah, I knew those guys in my Army)

But he sums up what pride means to a soldier in the last paragraph:

Nobody who missed the Viet-Nam War should regret the fact. It was a waste of blood and time and treasure. It did no good of which I'm aware, and did a great deal of evil of which I'm far too aware. But having said that. . .

I rode with the Blackhorse

UU-fucking-raahhh!!