It looks like it was signed back in October, for the record. By the US, Canada, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Australia, Japan, and Morocco.

I wouldn't feel the need to mention this if I'd seen it anywhere in the replurks/posts I've been seeing! (I can't currently open the petition to see if it reflects the current reality.) I do encourage sending emails to your senators/representatives/whatever about this anyway, especially if you live in a country that hasn't yet signed it, but it's the kind of fact that should probably be known before you try to write a letter if you want it to be listened to.

This entry was originally posted at opusculus @ DW. There are comments over there. Want to talk?

Well, my uncle died yesterday.

( cut for personal musingsCollapse )

This entry was originally posted at opusculus @ DW. There are comments over there. Want to talk?

If you're looking for a Mac backup program, try Arq. In no particular order, bullet points!

• It's stored on Amazon's cloud service, so you're paying exactly what you're storing, rather than either paying too much or underpaying and dealing with the risk of the software trying to subtly cripple your using the full offer, which is what I've heard of people having problems with services like Mozy


• It's really light-weight. I tend to get impatient and delete programs like antiviruses because they slow my computer down too much. This doesn't.


• It makes it really easy to choose what folders you want to store (because if you're paying for storage, you care), and to set a monthly budget of how much you'd like to pay for storage. So it stores as many copies of your backups as often as your budget allows, or if you just want no history, you just set your budget way under and it will store exactly 1 copy of all your folders. The only feature it's missing here is showing you how much you'll have to pay for storing exactly 1 copy of all your folders, which is admittedly a pretty big thing


• It's easy to restore (yes, I tested) and they have an open source restorer for added peace of mind if you care about that.


• It gives you the choice of Amazon's top tier backups that will survive data center blowups, or a slightly cheaper one that won't. I went with won't because none of my stuff is so critical that I am willing to pay another couple bucks a month for insurance of a simultaneous my computer blowup and data center blowup.


• It took me about 10 minutes to set up, and most of that was pruning folders (and then cleaning out folders but that's just because I'm cheap.) It was also really easy to do.

So yeah. If you have been considering computer backups for a while and just never got around to it, this is a decent option.

This entry was originally posted at opusculus @ DW. There are comments over there. Want to talk?

Okay, I admit it. I find the whole RP mass migration over to DW absolutely fascinating to watch and want to tl;dr about it to work out my own thoughts on it. Mostly to get it out of my head! I like business shit and mass social changes, okay. This is kind of the other side of my earlier tl;dr, as it's focusing on RP rather than LJ.

( cut for lengthCollapse )

This entry was originally posted at opusculus @ DW. There are comments over there. Want to talk?

There are times when I find the whole urban fantasy genre frustrating as fuck. I should be its biggest fan! I love ridiculous Mary Sues, I love cities, I love female protagonists, I love adventure and mystery and yadda yadda. But I was thinking it over, with my failed run at yet another highly recommended urban fantasy (Magic to the Bone), and I think I figured out why.

Your basic urban fantasy heroine seems pretty much modelled after the traditional male anti-hero? She's tough, she's brooding, she's hot, she's utterly friendless because that would be emotional weakness and a real hero needs no emotional weaknesses. And this meshes horribly with the fact that urban fantasy generally requires that she get together with her alpha male boyfriend who introduces her to a whole new life in the underworld. Because- okay, I don't like either the traditional brooding emotionless male anti-hero or romance, so that is totally part of my problem here.

But the thing about emotionally broken male anti-heroes is that it was supposed to convey a particular type of strength. He's above all these petty emotions because he's such a great hero and maybe a hot woman will break his shell a little, but she'll be fridged by the end of the story so all it gives him is more reason to be above it all in order to not let himself be broken by the cruel pettiness of the world around him. With urban fantasy heroines, it's a weakness that they'll generally be improving at over the course of the series, largely because of their boyfriend's influence. And I mean, I can see the appeal of that to the people who like it? But in light of that I just find the heroines to be written to be immature in a way that I can't just roll my eyes, turn off my brain and ignore. I think most loner anti-heroes are fundamentally immature too, but I have a much easier time ignoring something written to be a static trait rather than a subplot, basically.

Also, while I'm complaining, can we have some more urban fantasy female protagonists with some actual female friends? I mean, come on. Average ratio seems to be 5 guy friends to 1 female friend who makes the least appearances out of any of her friends.

This entry was originally posted at opusculus @ DW. There are comments over there. Want to talk?

Okay so, I have completely failed on my New Years Resolution regarding exercise! I am largely whatever on that because honestly I don't really do New Years Resolutions, but it did get me at least think about why I'm apparently so determined to avoid my gym.

( Anyone wanting to read my navel gazing has to be a masochist.Collapse )

This entry was originally posted at opusculus @ DW. There are comments over there. Want to talk?

Lately I've been trying to get the hang of salads. I grew up having salad as the designated side with dinner every night, and there's something about that that makes it come off as really, deeply and sincerely, boring to me. All I ever had, and all I ever did when I took over the family cooking was lettuce + random dressing. BORING. And making the lettuce the main course never quite…worked for me? I always felt weirdly dissatisfied.

But I bring my lunch to work most days, and while I have no problems filling it on days that I cook myself something the night before, I really needed something besides frozen tamales/burritos/chicken pot pies etc. to fill it on the days I don't. So! Salads are something I can do in 10 minutes even if they're a bit on the complicated side, and I have these adorable little sauce thingies that I can use to put my dressing in so it doesn't get all soggy, and therefore they seem like a good solution to that. I like sandwiches more, but I hate pre made sandwiches because they get all soggy and the flavors mix and sometimes it's still fine if I really, really loved the sandwich in the first place but I just don't like them as much. And my usual objection to salads - that they're not filling - is kind of negated by the fact that I pack that lunchbox FULL, dudes. I have breakfast (yogurt with fruit or fruit and cheese, normally), miscellaneous fruits to serve as snacks, miscellaneous chocolate to serve as desserts (Green and Black's Maya Gold is the most delicious thing ever, for the record), miscellaneous cheeses to serve as snacks in case the fruits aren't enough, and maybe a cookie or two just for bonus, and usually in the morning it's kind of bulging out at the sides. I usually don't finish all this, but I like having snacks available and if I don't have fruit available I feel grumpy all day. And there's basically no restaurants nearby that actually serve fruit, which is really great incentive to have it available.

But since I've never actually really made salad, I'm sort of in the process of teaching myself how to make a good salad. So here's a summary of what I've been learning about how to make a satisfying salad from what I have available.

( mmm tasty food.Collapse )

...I don't know if this is the worst icon for food or the best icon for food.

This entry was originally posted at opusculus @ DW. There are comments over there. Want to talk?

( This has spoilers for the entire series of Higurashi and Umineko, for the record.Collapse )

This entry was originally posted at opusculus @ DW. There are comments over there. Want to talk?

Usually I don't do New Years' resolutions, because they've always struck me as sort of silly. I've changed before and I'll change again, but the new year on its own doesn't motivate me to change in the least. I suppose it's a disadvantage of never really celebrating New Year? On the other hand, I have been changing recently into someone happier and more confident with myself, and so at this point I want to keep this ball rolling, as I'm liking the person I'm growing into more than the person I was.

Therefore:
1. I will app at least one other character. It can be in CFUD, it can be Rena in Thusia because omg so much setting potential, it could be both, but I want to at least make a real run at playing two characters seriously at the same time.
2. I will use my journal.
3. I will keep sewing, and make myself some skirts with pockets big enough to hold all my shit. Because pockets are love.
4. I will keep on doing makeup in the morning, because honestly the five extra minutes it takes pays off in how much better I feel.
5. I will do at least 10 minutes of yoga every single day, and make it to my gym at least once a week. I will wait until I am not sore to return to the gym, because last time it was the neverending soreness that killed me.

This entry was originally posted at opusculus @ DW. There are comments over there. Want to talk?

Work: I wasted the whole goddamn year with only headaches to show for it. But I have a job in this economy so I can't bitch too much. Next!

Personal life: Decent? It feels like I've started turning around some bad trends/habits of mine, and one of the things I'm hoping about the next is that I can keep that up. Trying to blog more will help, I think, especially with Plurk to avoid some of the more inane posts making it on here. (...SORRY PLURK FLIST? I blame the medium and not my inherently boring nature.)

Online/RP/Fandom: Good and bad? It's seemed...idk, quieter and less absorbing and I'm not entirely thrilled with that, and I think wholesale abandoning journaling for Plurk was a really bad idea, but I love Rika and her relationships and have enjoyed being even peripherally in a fandom that actually...has a fandom gj self, and lasted way longer with Ferdinand than I ever thought I would. Overall, I think next year's going to be better though. I have some tentative app plans, some nice plans for Rika even if they are mostly for CFUW, and I'm honestly looking forward to picking up blogging. I might even make a run at doing one of the communities that I've been thinking wistfully about doing for years despite the bah amounts of work it would require.

Cheers to 2012 in hopes that it'll be better for everyone!

This entry was originally posted at opusculus @ DW. There are comments over there. Want to talk?