Fire-Safe Fayoumi

Little Fayoumis came home talking about "stop, drop, and roll", and how one crawls under the smoke to get out of a room. Since he was into the whole fire thing, I taught him how to feel doorknobs to see if they're hot if there's a fire, and where the fire extinguisher closest to us was, and how you don't put water on a grease fire (I showed how oil floats on water with a jar and a bit of cooking oil and water from the tap) and stuff like that.

He was happy to be learning.

The sooner he gets the right instincts for fire safety, the better. He may be too small to do much with them now, but if he learns how to act, the better and safer he'll jump when (if ever) he's faced with a real emergency.

I still remember when the label-printer that FatherSir brought home caught on fire, and how I jumped up and down screeching with the note in my voice that any parent comes running about.

Pushed the button on the smoke alarm to make it screech for demonstration purposes.

I have a feeling he's going to be showing off his newfound knowledge at school. Yay teamwork.

Mmm.

yaksha42 came over. He walked me home after he got off work. We stopped and got pizza. We walked the rest of the way home. We ate pizza. There was tickling.

The rest is pretty much a foregone conclusion, eh?

And then we had a shower.

Sleep soon.

Am self-medicating the position with hot chocolate with butterscotch schnapps in. Don't worry: I took my lactose stuff. After I finish it and make sure I get enough water, I'm crashing.

School

English test today. Am pretty sure I did well. Friday morning, more fun with Management. Tuesday, more English, and some Web. Wednesday, management, web, and the presentation of the DFD's in Analysis. Thursday, more English, and friday more Management.

The last week in February is Finals Week.

I need to get signed up for the classes for next tri.

Allergy Season

Still with the allergies. Am having much with the unhappiness.

Management

Two groups of us did reports on Sam Walton, which was just as well, as they went more in-depth on his life, whereas I went off on the actual day-to-day operations and how they related to his principles of management. Excellent.

I am good at lukewarm speaking. I wasn't completely cold, but I had no prepared speech, just a sheet that I downloaded from the 'net in the 10 minute break before I spoke, with the pinciples on it. My paper was sitting here at home on Tigereye...

I think most of us cat-people will giggle in shared pain.

http://users.viawest.net/~aloomis/catpill.htm

Still grouchy

Lost my keys about a week ago. Am not happy. Have spare door key. Do not have spare mailbox or laundry room key. Gr.

The English Pedant Strikes Again

Let's. Not lets, but let's. Let's go to the movies! It is a contraction of let us. The phrase "Why don't we" can be substituted for the contraction let's if the writer is in doubt.

Let's not confuse 'let's' with 'lets', as in, "My landlady lets us this apartment." This word is not seen much in American writing.


(Note to self: 'not seen much in American speech' is... um... right. )

Latest preoccupation of the Lunatic:

Making semi-random knowledge-geek peeve posts, growling at people who get things wrong by loudly pointing out how to do it right. Sometimes it's spurred by specific instances. I am rarely crass enough to link to the offending bit.

This is my way of dealing. If I can yell in public about the topic in general, because it annoys me when anyone does it, I have no need of pointing specific fingers of "You got this wrong!!".

From a comment: The distinction between fantasy and science fiction

Fantasy is what you have when you write fiction about things that do not, according to modern science, exist, and do not include in the 'suspension of disbelief' setup package that these things were arrived at by advances in scientific knowledge, or by implementation of current scientific knowledge beyond the scope of the currently possible.

One can write about neat human tricks like telekinesis and telepathy as either fantasy or science fiction. You'd have to explain why it can exist in a pseudoscientific manner (special brain powers, manipulation of now detectable energy field) to make it science fiction, or, you could just go with it, or explain it in a mystical fashion (harmony with Nature, deal with Dark Powers, gift from Nice Powers, freak of nature).

The distinction between fantasy and science fiction depends on the distinction between mysticism and science.

Quizzy

polite_societypolite_society

Word bitch

tick/tic.

Here we have three different things. We have some onomatopoeia, like the sound made by a clock: tick tick tick or tic-toc. We have an irritating crawly life-form that spreads disease: My dog came home with ticks in its ears. And we have an involuntary body movement, such as the corner of someone's eye twitching uncontrollably when they're enraged.

Any guesses as to which is which? Hint: tic is not a creature, nor are involuntary movements spelled the same way the creature is.

Linkage:

A tale of woe from customers_suck: http://www.livejournal.com/talkread.bml?journal=customers_suck&itemid=1480382

Fishies!: http://www.meangene.com/darwin/taxonomy.html

Bookmarks:

http://www.pvponline.com/archive.php3?archive=19980620
http://flem.keenspace.com/d/20011215.html

Amusingc. nOTC.

ISPILLED WATER ON MYkeyeboard todayq, WHILE I WAS on THE phone WITH YFAtherSirq, AND this IS lebading TO all SORTSoyf intersting.THINGSC. nOTE that i am NOT particularly CORRECTING anything THAT happens WHEN typing at THE momentq, OTHER than WORDSI didn't INTEND to PUT thereq, OR words THAT somehow DIDN'T show UP when TYPING themc. INC.

Note THAT the CAPS locK key IS now CONTROLLEBD eby THE space EBARC.

Not PARTICULARLY amusingc.c.c. EBUTsomehowq, it ISC. Oy WVEYC.

Typing A period INSERTS a 'C' ebeyfore ITC.

'e' COMES ebeyfore EBC.

'y' COMES ebeyfore YFC.

This KEYEBOARD is YFUXU0REDC.

Ohq, AND 'u' COMES ebeyfore U0C.

'Q' comes EBEYFORE 'q,'

TYPING some LETTERS seems TO turn THE keyeboard OYFYF yfor A SPLIT secondc.

hOW yfun AND amusingc.

tHE quick EBROWN yfox JUMPED owver THE lazy DOGSC.

'w' EWVIDENDLY comes EBEYFORE wvc.


gremlinessq, GIGGLEB you09r HEART ou09t AT mec. oHQ, I SEE the 'U' periodic DEYFECT has RETURNEDQ, with THE extraneou09s 'U09' in THEREC. Wowc. i am SO thrilledc.

MYF keyeboard IS still YFU0XU0RD

( quiZ: )