![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/syndicated.gif) wired_news |
| 2008-05-09 01:00 |
| Sex Drive: Motion-Capture Suits Will Spice Up Virtual Sex |
| Public |
http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/index/~3/286508280/sexdrive_0509 http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/commentary/sexdrive/2008/05/sexdrive_0509
No matter how beautiful the sex animations are in your favorite virtual playground, they can't compete with the movement of your own body.
How soon will we be slipping gracefully into motion-capture suits or using 3-D cameras to capture those uniquely natural moves and engage our entire bodies in online sexual adventures, rather than limping along with keyboard and mouse? Sooner than you might think.
Kevin Alderman, who's already infamous for the sex animations his company Strokerz Toyz creates for Second Life, is developing a wireless, consumer-level motion-capture suit that's expected to hit shelves in 2009.
"Right now only a dozen or so sites on the web offer downloadable mocap files," Alderman says. "You have to wait until some studio becomes benevolent enough to make the animations you want, or you have to engage them for your specific needs."
Personal motion-capture suits will enable residents to contribute sex animations to the world of their choice -- and to develop scenarios tailored to their own deepest desires, especially if they team up with others who also have the suits. It's the bridge between today's expensive studio mocap and the real-time avatar control of tomorrow.
Meanwhile, technologists Mitch Kapor and Philippe Bossut have developed a less exotic, yet more familiar, prototype for hands-free interaction in virtual worlds: They're using a 3-D camera to track body movements, which are in turn translated and used to control avatars in Second Life.
These new technologies won't instantly set off the "ZOMG it's sex!" media alarms the way Bluetooth-to-sex-toy interfaces do. These developers can position themselves as facilitators of dancing and flying and walking around, creators of new input devices rather than instigators of a whole new level of cybersex.
But you can be sure we'll adapt whatever they come up with to our own erotic purposes. I would gladly put up with a few technical glitches for the chance to play with home mocap systems and virtual worlds.
Traditionally, home motion-capture animation has been financially out of reach for most geeks, costing about a half-million dollars for a studio setup -- a big room, multiple cameras to capture all the angles, the spandex suit with the white pingpong balls, the software that calculates the movement of those points through space and maps it to a digital figure.
However, Rick Hall, production director at the Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, sees "a trend to move away from big external optical systems" like the mocap setups used for movies and game development. Hall suggests that MMORGs will most likely provide the first venues for real-time mocap.
"Picture the more sedate scenes like in a bar, or dance clubs," he says. "That could be an interesting application, putting on a little virtual-reality mocap suit and dancing."
Ask hard-core game developers about the limitations of using real-time motion capture devices to control your avatar and they'll remind you that your living room is a finite space. Even if you could strap on the motion sensors and use your body to maneuver your digital alter ego, you can't do much flying, climbing or fighting without hitting a wall.
"You can swing a baseball bat or kick a football, but you can't go dive, can't run, can't explore a cave," Hall says. "We're always going to have this problem. Duplicating the Holodeck on the Enterprise sounds nice, but when they turn the screen off, it's just a big room.... It's not limited by (mocap) technology but by the walls in your house."
With virtual sex, that's not such a problem. Sometimes what you want to do in a virtual world takes up no more physical space than a sleeping bag. And sometimes you actually need a wall. Where else would you secure the tie-downs?
"I'm not sure I want to go there," Hall says. (That's OK. Everybody has a day job.)
Strokerz Toyz's Alderman wants to go all the way there. While the world waits for his $10,000 home mocap suit, he's launching a mocap studio, StroCap, that focuses on mature content.
"We are soliciting (Second Life) residents to tell us what they want to see in adult motion capture," Alderman says. "More realistic caresses? More erotic dances? More action?"
With StroCap's offerings and the inevitable use of home mocap suits and 3-D cams to control avatars, people who want to express themselves sexually in a virtual world -- but can't draw or animate -- will still be able to translate their own desires and preferences into in-world animations.
Gradually, our avatars will begin to mirror the way our bodies actually move, which could have an interesting effect on the gender play virtual worlds are so keen on. If we get it right, we'll become at least 50 percent more attractive to other residents, according to a collaborative study conducted last year at Texas A&M University and New York University.
People are more than ready to replace keyboards and controllers with more holistic interfaces. Look at the demand for Wii Fit, even though nothing prevents us from popping in an exercise video or walking the dog.
As for the lag that can still be a problem in virtual worlds, well, you wouldn't have expected people to use webcams night after night over their 14,400-baud modems, and yet we did, somehow.
My first real-time mocap action will be to kiss whoever develops the system I use.
See you in a fortnight,
Regina Lynn
- - -
Regina Lynn invites you to move her at reginalynn.com.
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| wired_news |
| 2008-05-09 01:00 |
| May 9, 1941: German Sub Caught With the Goods |
| Public |
http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/index/~3/286508281/dayintech_0509 http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2008/05/dayintech_0509 1941: British destroyers capture a German submarine, U-110, south of Iceland. The British remove a naval version of the highly secret cipher machine known to the Allies as Enigma, and then they let the boat sink -- to keep the fact of their boarding secret.
The Enigma machine, used by the Kriegsmarine to encode and decode messages passing between shore command and ships at sea, was taken to Bletchley Park in England, where cryptographers including computer pioneer Alan Turing succeeded in breaking the naval code. The Germans, assuming U-110 had foundered with her secrets intact, failed to realize that their code was broken. The subsequent information passing before British eyes helped the Allies enormously in the Battle of the Atlantic.
Several versions of the Enigma machine existed, but the working principle -- a rotor system activated using a keyboard -- was the same. The machine itself had been around since the early 1920s and was used by other nations, too, although it is most closely associated with Nazi Germany.
The Enigma used by the German army was decrypted as early as 1932 by Polish cryptographers, who later passed their methodology along to the British and French. In light of subsequent events (the Germans drove a Franco-British expeditionary force out of Norway and then crushed the French in a six-week campaign in 1940), the military value of this early intelligence is debatable.
But breaking the German naval code, made possible in large part by the recovery of U-110's machine, provided the British with a leg up at a time when the war at sea was very much in doubt.
The capture of a U-boat on the high seas was a rare and considerable achievement, since submarine crews scuttled their boats rather than let them fall into enemy hands. In this case, the U-boat’s commander, Kapitänleutnant Fritz Julius Lemp, thinking he was going to be rammed by an oncoming destroyer, ordered his crew to abandon ship. (His precise order, according to one survivor, was "Last stop. Everybody off.") Seeing the Germans leaving the boat, the British commander managed to veer away and avoid a collision.
Lemp, already in the water when he realized his boat wasn't going to be rammed, was swimming back to U-110 to scuttle her when he was either shot by the British (according to the Germans) or simply disappeared (according to the British).
Three other U-boats were captured at sea during the war, most notably the U-505, surprised by an American task force off the African coast in June 1944. That boat is on permanent display at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.
Pop culture footnote: The thoroughly mediocre movie, U-571, was loosely based -- very loosely based -- on the capture of U-110. It was also shot through with historical inaccuracies, but that's a subject for another time and place.
(Source: Uboat.net, Wikipedia)
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| wired_news |
| 2008-05-09 01:00 |
| A Close Look at the Colossal Squid |
| Public |
http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/index/~3/286508282/gallery_squid_autopsy http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/multimedia/2008/05/gallery_squid_autopsy  : Courtesy Te Papa Museum Scientists at the national museum of New Zealand, Te Papa, have recently completed dissections of several enormous squids, including pieces of a colossal squid -- the largest invertebrate ever caught. The female specimen weighs more than 1,000 pounds and measures 26 feet long.
The squid's resemblance to fiction's monsters of the deep, including its dinner-plate-size eyes, has attracted global interest. Scientists now believe the cephalopods can grow even larger, to more than 45 feet long, with a corresponding increase in weight.
In this gallery, we take you into the gritty, visceral business of defrosting and preserving this Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni, known in English as the colossal squid.
Left: Researchers at Te Papa had to custom-build a tank in which they could defrost the enormous squid -- and preserve it in formaldehyde.
The colossal squid is not to be confused with the giant squid, which is longer but less massive. The colossal squid pictured is almost twice as heavy as the largest giant squid discovered.
An international team of scientists was flown to New Zealand to assist in the examination of this unique find.
 : Courtesy Te Papa Museum The squid was accidentally caught in the Ross Sea off the coast of Antarctica by fishermen searching for Chilean sea bass. The ship's captain, John Bennett, was understandably excited.
"Being alongside a creature like this is just awesome," he told Newsweek. "It's easy to see why outlandish stories about them get stretched out."
After its capture, seen here, the squid was blast-frozen aboard Bennett's boat to keep it from rotting. While necessary, it created a headache for scientists who spent days figuring out how to defrost what they call "the squidcicle."
 : Courtesy Te Papa Museum Scientists didn't perform a full dissection of the new colossal squid, but they did cut up two other specimens while the largest squid was defrosting.
At left is a smaller colossal squid, which is only a partial specimen -- it was damaged in transit. Still, even the partial specimen is a boon for researchers. Only 10 of this type of squid have ever been found.
 : Courtesy Te Papa Museum The researchers also dissected a giant squid, a cousin of the colossal variety. The giant squid is often longer than the colossal squid but significantly lighter.  : Courtesy Te Papa Museum The colossal squid lives on a diet of fish, caught at depths below 6,000 feet. The squid's arm tentacles, which it uses to catch and hold prey, are lined with dozens of powerful, clawed hooks.  : Courtesy Te Papa Museum Here we see the colossal squid's beak.
Squid bodies are rarely found, but squid beaks turn up in the stomachs of marine predators like sperm whales. They providing much-needed data about the size of this elusive animal because the size of the beak corresponds to the overall size of the animal.
This specimen's lower rostral beak is only 1.7 inches across, considerably smaller than the largest found in a sperm whale stomach, suggesting that much larger colossal squid exist.
 : Courtesy Te Papa Museum The colossal squid's eye measures 10.6 inches across -- the largest eye in the animal kingdom. Scientists believe the squid is an almost entirely visual predator and needs the huge eye to spot prey in the dark depths of Antarctic waters.  : Courtesy Te Papa Museum The squid's eye was well-preserved. Here, the single lens of the creature is presented in two halves. In a living squid, the larger piece of tissue drapes over the smaller one to form a single lens.
"When this squid was alive, the lens was almost certainly spherical and possibly of a size similar to an orange," professor Eric Warrant explained on the dissection team's blog.
But scientists don't know much about the animal's eye yet because, as an expert told USA Today, "This is the only intact eye (of a colossal squid) that's ever been found."
 : Courtesy Te Papa Museum In this shot of the viscera of the smaller colossal squid, we can see its striped gills and orange ovaries, which can hold thousands of tiny white eggs.  : Courtesy Te Papa Museum The record-breaking colossal squid specimen is nearly thawed in this picture. The plastic bags are serving as floaties for the squid's delicate arms so that they don't break before defrosting.
After three more weeks immersed in a formaldehyde-based solution, the colossal squid will be moved to a special tank at the Te Papa museum for permanent display.
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One thing that we all have in common is that we've all had Moms and having a Mom means that you've been subjected to "mom - isms" or "things your mom always said."
Things like:
Always wear clean underwear in case you get in an accident.
A little soap and water never killed anybody
Beds are NOT made for jumping on.
So, what are some of your Mom's favourite and unique Mom - isms and do how many times a day do you find yourself using one of these expressions today!?
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The results of SPP's substantial investment in a new colour tower - right here in Dingwall, incidentally - can be seen for the first time in this week's Ross-shire Journal. And that's something you'll only see if you pick up a copy of the paper itself (hint, hint...) The ticker tape teaser (scrolling across the top of the website in "Please Read Me!" red) gives a further indication of the delights ONLY to be found inside this week's paper...
What the new colour capability offers are more options for the use of the best photographs. Some pictures jump up and down and demand to be used in colour - and now we should be able to comply more often than was previously possible. In short, an exciting development.
Trying out my gaudy new trainers at Dingwall Leisure Centre this lunchtime, I found my treadmill high deflated by a newsflash on the TV screen in front of me that UN aid to Burma was being cancelled as the first shipment in had been seized. That's just...pants. Don't you just hate it when politics get in the way of helping people desperately in need of help? I confess to switching channels in a bid to cool my boiling blood.
Thumbs up on the Asics trainers (or 'tennis shoes' for my American friends), incidentally. Light as a feather and already rendering my beloved Nike Airs a distant memory. That was a stroke of luck as they were the first pair I could find in a size 9 from a closing down sale. Bonus.
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Cute story :)
Go to http://www.lipstickbhm.com and read the article called "Soulja Mom", or read here:
( Soulja Mom BY ANNE GLAMORE )
Have a FABULOUS Friday :) :) :)
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As some of you may know, I work for the National Marrow Donor Program. I encourage you to support our "Thanks Mom" Recruitment Campaign. You can join the donor Registry at no cost to you, make a donation to help patients and their families, or just leave a message of support and encouragement for patients.
Did you know:
- Cellular transplantation is a life-saving treatment for people with diseases like leukemia and lymphoma.
- Seventy percent of patients do not have a matching donor in their family.
- Joining the Donor Registry only requires rubbing the inside of your cheek with a cotton swab.
- If you're ever called as a genetic match for a patient, the most common collection method is similar to donating platelets - you sit in a chair, with a needle in each arm, while the blood-forming cells are separated out of your circulating blood.
-Minority donors are especially needed, because patients are most likely to match someone of their same heritage. Currently, there is not enough genetic diversity on the Registry to give all searching patients an equal chance of finding a match.
I have met many, many donors and everyone of them was thrilled by the unique opportunity to match a patient and help save a life. I have never met a donor who wasn't eager to do it again if needed.
I have met patients and their families whose lives were saved by the generosity of a stranger who gave them a second chance.
Visit the Donor Garden - a community of caring and compassionate individuals interested in saving lives. http://www.donorgarden.org/?src=Garden_Email_with_flower_ID
You can find me in the Donor Garden by entering the following ID into the Find a Friend box.
Donor Garden ID: 100183
Thanks! If you add a message, I'd love to hear from you!
P.S. I know this community doesn't post a lot of volunteer/fundraiser stuff, but I feel so strongly about this, I thought I'd take a chance to share the opportunity. If you don't think the post is appropriate, I understand.
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| get_rich_slowly |
| 2008-05-09 12:00 |
| Ask the Readers: Pay Down Debt or Save for Retirement? |
| Public |
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/getrichslowly/~3/286776899/ http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/?p=1797 Personal finance is filled with tough decisions. Prepay the mortgage or invest the money? Pay down high interest debt first or use a debt snowball to tackle the small balances? Roth IRA or traditional IRA?
Sara wrote recently with another dilemma I think many of us have faced: is it better to pay down debt or to begin investing for the future?
I’m 28. I work at a job with no retirement benefits and I want to open a Roth IRA.
My husband and I have about $9,000 in credit debt on a credit card which, unfortunately, has a high interest rate. (I plan on transferring the balance soon, but am investigating cards carefully.) We also have a small loan that we are paying off quickly.
Your recent posts on the benefits of compound interest for retirement are making me question my current plan of “pay off all debts first, then invest”. I don’t want to lose out on the benefit of time any longer. What should I do? If I have $600 a month to throw at something, is it better to focus it all on the debt, or start on my Roth?
In this case, it might be helpful to reframe the question. Would you take out a loan at 12% or 15% or 18% interest in order to make an investment with an uncertain return (but which would most likely yield about 8%)? That’s basically the situation here. From a purely mathematical perspective, it doesn’t make much sense.
But there’s more than math involved in this decision. Building retirement savings can be a powerful motivator. Just getting in the habit of setting money aside is a valuable skill itself. Although there’s a cost involved, I wouldn’t say that it’s wrong to save for retirement while also repaying debt.
As always, do what works for you. If the debt bothers you, or if you think you might struggle to pay it off otherwise, then focus on the debt. But if you’re worried about the lack of retirement savings, then focus on that.
I did a little of both. While I was paying off my debt, I began to set aside a little cash every month to fund my retirement. It wasn’t a lot at first — just $100 — but as my expenses dropped and my income grew, I was able to contribute more. This allowed me to get into the habit of saving while also making progress on debt reduction. I know that I wasn’t making the most of either situation, but I didn’t care — it felt right for me. (And to be honest, I’d probably take the same approach again.)
What about you? What would you do in a situation like this? (Or what have you done in a situation like this?) Would you sacrifice a few hundred dollars in order to develop the saving habit? Or would you buckle down and get that debt paid off first?
---
Related Articles at Get Rich Slowly:
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Life is like a box of chocolates - you never know what you're gonna get. A well known phrase from hit movie Forrest Gump.
A phrase which until this year, I never really gave much thought to. You can try and plan what you are going to get, you might think you know what you are going to get, but in the end forces beyond your control and a few mad moments which technically are in your control but you let out of you control, will mean that you never truly know what life holds for you.
When I was younger, I thought life would be simple and that it was easy to map out. My plan was to go to school, get good grades, get a good job, meet a guy, fall in love, date a while, get married and have kids. Simple and easy.
Until last year, at just 26-years-old, I had fulfilled all, but the latter of these criteria.
I had my dream job, I had had my dream wedding. I live in a great part of the world. I thought that me and the ex were trying to make the baby part happen. Life seemed good. I was happy with my lot.
Then, I was dealt the blow - my husband was having an affair and never really did want the kids I had longed for all along.
I never doubted for one minute that our relationship was over. I knew that the news, although hard to take would not ruin me, although I was worried it would knock me for six longer than it has done.
I had to reassess my life and I thought at the time that my so called plans would now be delayed for a few years. It was something I reluctantly began to accept.
However, almost a year on, my life is back on track. I still have the great job, I still live in an amazing part of the country, I have a great house, a great boyfriend and now - I also have a baby on the way too.
Can you believe it?
At just 27-years-old - I have it all. I have a second chance.
It was never the way I would have planned it, getting pregnant and not being married to the man who is going to be the father of my child, was not my ideal.
But somehow that doesn't matter anymore. Ticking all the right boxes and doing things the so called right way doesn't guarantee a happy ending.
Nothing can.
However, I am happy and the joiner is happy and surely that is all that matters.
This is also the reason I have been a bit coy on the blog. I feel as though I have my real life which naturally has revolved around babies, due dates, scan dates etc etc and then I have had my edited blog life. I didn't want to say anything too soon until I knew everything was okay.
However, I have been writing elsewhere and here is my lengthy update on what has been going in the full unedited world of Claire Doughty since she found out she was with child!!! (I love that phrase).
March 25 2008
I am pregnant. It is a bit of a surprise, although we are both adults so we should have really known what was going to happen. It is one of the best surprises I have ever had and I don't really like to be surprised.
You see, when the doctors thought I had endometriosis I came off the pill, I didn't want anything in my system that should not be there. If there were going to be problems conceiving, I didn't want to make it any harder.
So I came off the pill on February 7 and we decided to just see what happens.
Boom, five weeks later here I am - up the duff, with a bun in the oven. I am delighted, but shocked. I can't believe it happened so quickly. I always thought I was going to have problems conceiving and never in a million years thought it would happen straight away.
However, I am also terrified. I have already had one miscarriage with a previous partner and I am so scared it happens again.
This time round, even though me and the joiner have only been together five months, it feels so much more right.
I have already had two scans because I was getting so much pain in my stomach. Apparently this can be normal, but with every twinge I find myself rushing to the bathroom to check that things are how they should be.
It was great having the scans though - even at this early stage. The embryo - it is not even a feotus yet, is only a centimeter big. The joiner says I am the best peanut carrier there ever was.
I am so delighted, but I just need to get through the next seven weeks, to week twelve of the pregnancy - the time when the risk of miscarriage is reduced dramatically, and I hope I will be a lot calmer.
March 31 2008
I am back at work today and it is strange being here having this huge secret. I am feeling much better and have not had any pains for the last few days. However, this in itself panicked me. If I am not getting pain, does that mean there is something wrong? I can't win.
I have had mild morning sickness, but nothing major. I was sick the other day, but that has been it. However, I have felt extremely nauseous. Morning sickness is a misnomer. It does not just happen in the morning. For me, it seems to occur at 2am. Technically I suppose this is the morning but you know what I mean.
I am delighted I have it though as this was something I never had the last time.
April 1 2008
I have been spending a lot of time in bed. To many couples this would be a dream come true, to me and the boyfriend it is the harsh reality that things are changing and they are changing fast.
By the time my boyfriend had got home from work last night at around 7.45pm, I was already in my pyjamas and was ready to hit the sack. I was shattered.
Couple that with the tears he was greeted with this morning after he had lovingly got out of bed to make me breakfast and my sarnies for work - he is not having it easy at the moment.
I am cream crackered and emotional. Not a good mix. Without being pregnant, I am rubbish when I am tired. Add to that my mixed emotions because of raging hormones, lack of sleep and constant worry about the baby/peanut - and to be honest I am not a great person to be around at the moment. Imagine what it will be like when the baby is finally here!! Arggghh.
This morning I couldn't stop myself from crying. I tried and it didn't work. It wasn't until I got to my office and had to pull myself together that I felt okay.
The thing is, I am not unhappy - I just can't control how I feel at the moment.
Tonight I hope to be able to treat the joiner. I am not going to get into my pjs, and instead will get home, sort out the house, pamper myself and cook his tea. After that, I plan another early night, but this time together and not for sleep.
April 2.
I am feeling much better today following a good night's sleep
However, the joiner was greeted last night, not with me all smooth and silky and ready for some bedroom antics, but rather a blubbering wreck which was only able to hang on to him for dear life and sob for about ten minutes. Hormones - you gotta love them.
Apart from my little outburst yesterday I am feeling much better. However, there are those few twinges again, which I can't help worrying about. Frequent bathroom trips have been made to check that everything is okay.
Roll on Tuesday when I have my scan.
I feel like my life is in limbo or that somehow it is on hold, ironic giving that I am currently providing a comfy home for a new life. However, at the moment, until week 12 when I am in the safe zone, it is as though I have been asked to hold my breath for a very long time. All I can think about is the baby and how it is progressing. I am already thinking about names, what it will look like, what I will do about work etc, but at the same time I am afraid to think too much in case it all goes wrong.
The thing is, at the moment I am not in the least but worried about what happens when the baby is born. Call me naive, call me over confident - babies do not frighten me. I have grown up around kids and I have done my fair share of looking after babies. I do not for one minute think that being a foster sister makes me an expert, however, I have the advantage that I at least know how to hold a baby, change its nappy etc etc.
However, I am sure as the day approaches, the reality of the situation will hit me, and I am sure the fear will come.
April 3
I am finding keeping this pregnancy a secret very hard. I can't concentrate at work as I have been nauseous all day and to be honest the sheer energy in keeping it a secret is really starting to wear me down. It wouldn't be so bad, but a few people thought I was going into hospital for the laparoscopy to find out of I had endometriosis. And a few of those people have asked me if I have heard when that procedure is happening. To some, I have just told them the truth and said I am pregnant - to others I have lied - and I feel dreadful about it.
I suppose the whole reason for not telling too many people is in case I miscarry, but to be honest , the people that know are the people who would find out if I miscarried, so I personally don't see a problem in telling them.
It also explains why I occasionally have had to rush off to the bathroom, although the sickness today has not been too bad. Just the nausea.
I just had a kind of revelation - I am a little annoyed at myself as at the moment I am not really enjoying being pregnant.
I always imagined that I would be this blossoming vision. Floating around, looking radiant, still able to function 100 per cent at work, be the ideal "wife", and still have a social life.
The reality sadly is very different. My clothes - especially my underwear is already starting to feel snug. My boobs are huge. And because of the fatigue I kind of dawdle rather than float along wishing I could just take a quick nap.
Then there was the whole secrecy thing which I have already mentioned was getting me down. I have actually now told a few people and I thought that getting that out of the way might have helped, but I still feel like crap.
I have this continuous worry that not everything will be okay with the baby and I feel continually guilty that I am neglecting the joiner as I pretty much at the moment constantly feel rubbish.
First I am going to address the worry: It is natural to worry, I know that. I have good reason to be concerned. However, worrying is not going to help and it is not going to change anything. In fact, it will only make things worse.
Also, I suppose that now I am hopefully going to be a mother, continual worry is what life is going to be like. Does the worry about your young ever ease up? I hope that when I see our baby, and I am assured that it has everything it should, the worrying will subside a little, but as a parent - do you always have this niggling little thing at the back of your head or in the pit of your stomach where you are always a little worried about your offspring?
In terms of neglecting the joiner - I know I am beating myself up about this. He has been great and reassures me that he is happy just snuggling up with me at night. He knows that I am knackered and he knows that he is partly responsible for why I am knackered.
However, I can't help but feel that because he has to make my sarnies, and brings me breakfast in bed and that he went without sex for all of three days - that I am letting him down, and that if I don't buck up my ideas he will leave me.
I know in my heart of hearts that this won't happen - for god's sake we are having a peanut together - but my irrational, hormone tormented head sometimes goes a little crazy and I lose sight of reality.
Phew - I am glad I got that out of the way.
I know I am beating myself up too much, but it is hard. There is a lot of adjustment that is going to have to happen when the baby finally arrives, but at the moment, with no evidence to show for it, it is difficult to relax.
April 4
The joiner equates learning how to bath a baby to learning how to use the washing machine. I asked him last night how he felt about dressing, washing, holding a baby and whether he had much experience of them. He admitted he had next to none but preceded to assure me that if I can show him how to use the washing machine, then he was sure bathing the peanut would be no bother.
I was not sure whether to feel flattered that he trusted me enough to know what to do and then show him, or worried given that since I have shown him he has not put on one load of washing. Time will tell. He hinted that putting the baby in the washing machine might work, but my sidewards glance was enough to warn him from going any further with his joke.
April 8
I have had my next scan and everything is fine. I saw the peanut's tiny heart flickering away and suddenly everything seemed so much more real. I am delighted. Mum came with me as the joiner was unable to and she had a wee tear in her eye. I have to admit so did I.
I got a wee picture, but it is not very good.
The morning sickness is not disastrous, but I still get quite nauseous. At the moment the thing which is making me feel really off is fish. Even the word makes me gag. It's odd as I love fish. I can't actually say the word. How ridiculous is that?
I have also been thinking about names quite a lot. For girls I like Freya, Paige, Georgia and Minnie. For a boy I like Joshua and Elliot. I am sure these will change a million times by the time the baby is born.
April 9
I ran a few of the name ideas past my parents and sister last night and what a giggle we had.
Dad really quite likes Georgia, and so far that is my fave. Mum is worried she will get nicknamed Georgie Porgie!! The name was inspired as my dad's dad who I never met was called George. I like the idea of a name having a historical link to a family.
The name Elliot went down well with all of them, although the joiner was not so sure. He said he thought it was geeky and referred me to a character who is an alien spotter on Hollyoaks.
I thought that was funny as the name Elliot reminds me of the film ET. I thought the joiner may have vetoed Elliot but half an hour later he came through from watching the TV to announce that Elliot the said character from the Channel 4 show was now less geeky so it might be okay.
The joiner said that I can make the decision, but what he doesn't realize is what a huge responsibility it is. I don't mind making decisions on cot bedding, breast pumps and baby monitors, but I am not being solely responsible for the name of our child.
At the moment the front runners are Georgia and Elliot.
Georgia Minnie and Elliot Alaistair Alan. I am sure over the next few months these names will change no end of times.
April 17
I have been having some bizarre cravings - straws and plastic are the current ones. All I wanted yesterday was to chew on a straw or to drink milk - but only if it was out of a plastic cup. My mates Ski and Maria came to the rescue with a straw. It was delicious - very satisfying.
On the name front, the joiner likes the name Eilidh. I like it although I am still undecided.
May 6 2008
I have had my 12 week scan and apart from being left waiting almost two hours due to the hospital messing up the appointment it was magical.
The baby which is now a full foetus rather than a peanut sized blob, was moving around frantically. His legs and arms were waggling around and his mouth was opening and closing. He was very lively.
We (the joiner and I) are both delighted that so far everything is looking good.
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In these times of not so funny gas prices and general pissivity in much of the world, let's spend the weekend being happy.
1) Show us the funniest cartoon you've seen.
2) Recomment a side-splitting-pee-your-pants-laugh-out-loud movie.
3) Hilarious anecdote...what's the funniest thing that you've ever experiencced or witnessed.
4) Got a funny photo? Post it and tell us about it.
Bonus: 3 people are sitting on a park bench eating popsicles. One is licking it, one is sucking it, and one is biting it. Which one is married?
Why?
Hey...if you've got a lot, post a lot - but as always, please post your answers as responses to this post.
Laugh long, hard, and out loud!
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| wired_news |
| 2008-05-08 23:30 |
| TorrentSpy Won't Pay $111 Million Fine |
| Public |
http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/index/~3/286439263/torrentspy-wont.html http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/05/torrentspy-wont.html TorrentSpy lawyers said the torrent-tracking service won't pay the $111 million judgment a U.S. judge levied against it. Attorney Ira Rothken said he would appeal one of the nation's largest copyright penalties. The search engines' owner, he said, has filed for bankruptcy.
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...almost to the day after high school graduation,
I am officially a college graduate :)
Go ME!
20 Comments | Post A Comment | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend | Link
| wired_news |
| 2008-05-08 21:00 |
| How to Construct Your Own Chickensaurus Skeleton |
| Public |
http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/index/~3/286433718/Make_a_Chickensaurus_Skeleton http://howto.wired.com/wiki/Make_a_Chickensaurus_Skeleton Turn last night's dinner into a piece of scientific scuplture by cleaning a chicken's bones and reassembling the skeleton. Follow our guide in Wired's How-To Wiki.
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| wired_news |
| 2008-05-08 22:00 |
| Toilet Busted, Biodiesel Everywhere, But Eco-Boat Sails On |
| Public |
http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/index/~3/286400621/the-toilet-brok.html http://blog.wired.com/cars/2008/05/the-toilet-brok.html The eco-geeks aboard the carbon-neutral, biodiesel-powered Earthrace trimaran have completed the first leg of their trip around the world. And they're on pace to do it in record time.
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| wired_news |
| 2008-05-08 21:40 |
| Soon, Your Space on MySpace Can Be Everybody's Space |
| Public |
The social networker plans to allow its customers to share their personal data with websites operated by Yahoo, eBay and others, a move that would change the nature of social networking.
Post A Comment | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend | Link
| wired_news |
| 2008-05-08 21:40 |
| Soon, Your Space on MySpace Can Be Everybody's Space |
| Public |
http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/index/~3/286376860/MYSPACE_DATA_SHARING http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MYSPACE_DATA_SHARING?SITE=WIRE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT The social networker plans to allow its customers to share their personal data with websites operated by Yahoo, eBay and others, a move that would change the nature of social networking.
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| wired_news |
| 2008-05-08 04:00 |
| Samsung Glyde Cellphone Is a Slick Slip-and-Slider |
| Public |
http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/index/~3/286347298/review-samsung.html http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/05/review-samsung.html#more Samsung's newest iClone has just hit the store shelves. Designed with a touchscreen and full QWERTY keypad, the Glyde is no iPhone killer, but it is a solid device with one rock-star twist.
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amused
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