CritterKeeper

My mom and I are going to the pool where she does her water aerobics, and then we'll stop at a nice Chinese restaurant that's on the way home for some sizzling rice soup.

Heh. I'm currently watching a house-hunting show focusing on Tiny Houses. A few days ago, someone posted about gypsy caravans with some pictures of the interiors. For an incorrigable pack-rat like me, it's fun to picture downsizing to the bare minimum, but the shows always help remind me by the end just how many down sides it has, too. Still, it seems like they're very good at finding nooks and crannies that would usually go to waste, or smaller versions of normal appliances and conveniences. I didn't even know you could get a single unit that acts as a washer and a dryer! Boats are also a great place to find tiny but functional stuff. That said, I have no idea how the prices compare for tiny appliances and such.

That is a very good question. First step would be to try to find out whether Mr. Verres knows any more about either the Other Half or Magic changing, but it would be difficult to do without telling him why they're asking. Second best source of info is likely the griffins, when they meet again. Third might be Nioli, if we ever see her again.

Interesting point, ijuin. It does make me wonder, if we'd gotten to the point of space travel, would a reset caused by the actions of humans on Earth affect humans who live on another planet? Perhaps the more spread out humans become, the smaller a percent any one planet's population would be, and the less likely any one world of humans could do anything to cause a magic reset for the rest -- but the fact that what's happening in NaperMoperville is going to affect the rest of the planet is an argument against that.

Heh. He'd be my hero! Where do I sign up?

My father passed away Saturday morning. I was in Orlando for a conference from the previous Saturday through Wednesday, one of the biggest in the country and one I'd really been looking forward to. I had the following weekend off until Monday by our usual rotation, so I took vacation days for ThFri and got a five-day Disney ticket. I went to Hollywood (Star Wars area is there) on Thursday and Epcot on Friday. I was driving to the Magic Kingdom when my mom called and I was outside the gates when I called her back. She told me in the early morning he'd had a heart attack and he died. I kept it together on the phone, and told her I'd try to find out if I could change my flight back. After hanging up, I started sobbing. One of the Disney staff came over to see what was wrong. They were really nice, brought me in to the City Hall headquarters, got me water and kleenex, gave me a little room with a couch where it was quiet enough to make phone calls, and I could have a good cry in private. I was able to get a flight that afternoon, and Disney gave me a number to be able to use the three days left from my five-day ticket at another time later in the year. I flew home, and then drove three hours to my hometown. (I had to stop and think there -- "my parents' place"? Should it be "my Mom's" now?) I got there a bit after midnight. We talked to my sister on the phone for a little while; she has classes to teach, and Dad was a professor too, so we decided teaching her classes and waiting until spring break to come visit would be the best way to honor him. As long as Mom is doing okay, and doesn't start feeling like she needs us to come, I'll be going back Monday night and be back at work Tuesday. Mom's been keeping busy, which she seems to need. She's always had clubs and reading groups and such. We ran some normal everyday errands together. It being Sunday there's a lot of things that can't be done yet; Monday morning will be the soonest to call banks and businesses and such. We skipped church because she wasn't feeling ready to face all the sympathy and attention yet. I think I'm benefitting from a couple of days here, too; my boss has let everyone at work know, and I've gotten supportive texts from several of them, enough to not feel alone or forgotten, but not intrusive either. None of the three of us are the sort to take to our beds for days at a time when tragedy strikes. We grieve and mourn, but quietly and while getting done the things that need to be done. It keeps hitting me in little ways, and I know it will for a long time to come, but that's an inescapable part of life. I'd rather have had him in my life and then lost him, than not have had him at all. I have decided not to let the way it ended ruin the rest of the trip for me. It *was* a good trip, and I *did* have a lot of fun and learn a lot. I won't let there be any bad associations, won't let it ruin the planned Orlando trip with my sister in May -- in fact, we've asked Mom to consider if she'd like to join us now that she wouldn't have to leave Dad alone to do so. I do have those three days in Disney to use up....

Tedd's hair is pretty short now. I could see a breeze hitting the back of her head just right and revealimg the patch of darker skin. Presumably Elliott has been around Tedd long enough to know there's never been a birth mark there before, or at least to be suspicious of never-before-seen skin marks.

I've seen stranger things controlled over the internet....

You and puns appear to work on the same principle as Jerry and inappropriate remarks -- what is purported to be a punishment is actually serving as an encouragement. ;-P

Magic is immaterial anyway, so it's perfectly reasonable for Immortals to be able to manipulate it directly while immaterial (although we don't actually *see* Voltaire doing so, so it would still be possible that he'd have to physically manifest, and he's just behind Dex or masked by Dex's hallucinations). Physical objects, on the other hand, might require the Immortal to be on the physical plane in order to create them. This is the first on-screen evidence that they do not. Before this, you could *assume* they could do so, but there was no actual evidence they could.

That's like saying walking to the store seems like too much work compared to driving, when you have no idea whether the person in question owns or has access to a car. This is the first evidence we have that making objects appear without themselves appearing to deliver them to the physical plane *is* an option for Immortals.

Yes, but he didn't see it appear out of thin air. He found it in his home, already lying around someplace. That could have meant an Immortal appeared, left the object, then disappeared again. I think rhis is our first evidence that such hand-delivery isn't necessary.

Wow, this is sure an eventful storyline! We saw someone actually being Marked for the first time, and now we get to see another example of an Immortal giving someone a spellbook. Is this the first time we've seen an invisible Immortal make an object appear in the normal physical plane without themselves entering the physical plane to deliver it?

Yeah, that's kind of a Charlie Brown way to lose. How the heck else did he spell it? Beegle? Beagel?

I think the most accurate way to check for major broken bones would be direct palpation. Put one hand above and one hand below, and see if anything wiggles in between. Likewise undressing a victim to look for lacerations versus making their clothes see-through, or pushing on the car at the cliff's edge to see if it's about to fall versus imagining a crane trying to hook up to it. (If the crane was already there, and she figured out how to work the controls, she might get a more accurate answer than telling the crane operator facsimilie to do it for her.) I can definitely think of way too many ways this could develop a major squick factor, like checking if someone's neck is broken by seeing if it moves abnormally, and feeling bones grating as the person's avatar reports that their body just went numb....but knowing whether a trapped person needs to be moved very carefully or could be hauled loose quickly would be invaluable information. Ugh, almost makes me glad I don't have that particular spell. Almost, but not really, 'cos it is just too useful and fun.

"A child of five could solve this! Fetch me a child of five!" Hey, five would be one more parent than Grace, she's a child of four parents....

The version I learned was, "I before E, except after C, or when sounded like 'a', as in "neighbor" and "weigh." It then went on to list about eight exceptions to the extended rule. Am I the only one who remembers a Charlie Brown show where Charlie Brown is in the finals of the National Spelling Bee, or some fictional equivalent?

I think I agree that the result would depend on whether Sarah meant to see the car segment as it was scanned, or to pull an intact car through. If she sticks with what's scanned, the cut-off point of the car would be a cross-section, like a split dog model in anatomy class. If she tries to pull the whole car with the intent of pulling an intact car through, the missing section would be based on her imagination and expectations, but it would not be based on reality, because the spell doesn't have any data from beyond the cut-off.

Why on Earth does BBC America run Star Trek, anyway?

aka Stuff That Isn't True, aka LIES. I really wish people would call a spayed a spayed. ;-)

It does you credit that you care so much, and tried to do what's right. Thank you, even if you didn't succeed.

So who won? I caught some of it, but in a venue that was too loud to hear the commercials properly. Free food made up for it somewhat. Is it just me, or are Superbowl commercials not really a big deal anymore? Used to be almost all of them were new, often made just for the occasion, impressive productions which only later would air in a shorter form. Now, an awful lot of them were ones I'd already seen elsewhere before the game.

Hmm, Zoe Deschanel doesn't look much like I picture Grace. Not a mixed enough heritage, for one thing.

"When the boys you used to hate, you date / I guess you'd best investigate / the Facts of Life / the Facts of Life..." "When you hear it from your brother / Better clear it with your mother / Better get 'em right / Call her late at night!" "When the world never seems / To be living up to your dreams / Suddenly you're finding out / You'll never make it through without the truth / The Facts of Life are all about you!" (I may have more than one season conflagrated there, as I recall they updated the theme as the girls grew up) https://www.patreon.com/egscomics ;-)

While I'm glad Sarah isn't taking chances, now I'd really kinda like to see that half-a-car from the other side. I imagine it would be like looking at one slice of a CT scan, or an anatomy lab cross-section, except with metal and plastic and rubber! Hmm....unless there are passengers in the back seat, then it might be exactly like an anatomy lab cross-section....