CritterKeeper

T-shirt of the Day: When cutting red tape, be careful that you're not cutting it lengthwise!

We have Pandors's own words on this one. "This wasn't part of some master plan. I impulsively used my vast power to do something nice without thinking it through." And she was musing to herself, not talking to anyone else, so there's no reason to think she's lying. So, she did Mark Tedd deliberately, but it was a spur-of-the-moment thing. By the way, I see this was your first post. Welcome to the forums! :-)

*puts on vet/biologist hat* A parasite is something which feeds off of or takes resources from another (generally larger) host creature, to the detriment of the host and the benefit of the parasite. The classic form is endoparasites, such as tapeworms that live in the intestines and feed off of the host's bloodstream, but the term can also encompass stealing resources another creature has gathered or depositing eggs in another bird's nest so that the other bird will expend resources on raising the parasitic young instead of their own. Mosquitoes are parasites -- they take blood, and the host does not benefit in any known way from the relationship. They're not predators because they don't kill the host (at least not directly, the diseases they can carry are another matter). The plants do no harm to the sun, therefore they are not parasites. *takes off vet/biologist hat, tries to fix bad case of hat-hair*

RiffTrax -- Harry Potter

I think you meant to link to this comic. I don't think Magic can do "anything." Best analogy might be a mosquito or biting fly. A horse is a lot bigger and stronger than a biting fly, but they can't see them well enough and move fast enough to bite them, and they may not be able to swat the fly hard enough with their tail to kill it. They can't invent a tiny cannon capable of shooting down just that one fly, nor can they build a box and lure the fly inside -- they are limited in what they can do. But a lot of animals will deal with one persistent biting fly by rolling in mud, thus caking their skin and blocking not only that one individual insect but also all the other flies, mosqutoes, gnats, etc. in the area. The system change is going from bare furred flesh they can get to easily, to mud-caked skin the insects have a hard time finding a way to get through. I'm sure if enough critters stayed caked in mud long enough, so that it became the usual, then the insects would evolve ways to deal with the change; likewise, humans will eventually figure out how a new magic system works, but in the short term, they'll be at a severe disadvantage compared to now.

She looks properly short until the last picture, then she looks like she gained back several inches.

This is a nice one. I agre with the commenter who says it looks more like single FV5, but I consider that a plus. Tedd looks pretty flat-chested here, but I love that he's wearing a more girly-friendly outfit -- looks like he's comfortable enough with switching back and forth that he doesn't feel such need to be a girl whenever he gets the chance any more. If he feels like being a guy, he'll be a guy, and if she feels like being a girl, she'll be a girl!

I like this one. Very well-done figures, clever and natural-seeming placement of the watches, and the fact that Sarah and Tedd aren't blushing even a little or improvising tissue-robes or anything speaks volumes. :-D

Is it just me, or does the last picture look too tall? For her to be bent over that far, it seems like her head should have gone lower than this.

Star Wars Celebration in Indianapolis had similar super-long lines to get in. Haven't been to Chicago ComicCon yet, despite proximity, but I do know it's a pretty huge event. I guess the biggest question would be whether they drove there, or flew. Despite being 18 now, when the first Con storyline was written I think they were both still minors. I have trouble believing they were there without parents if it was across the country, whereas I could easily see them driving to another suburb for a Chicago-area con.

This is the guy who had no idea what "exorbitant breadth" meant or what it had to do with Cheerleadra's chest....

Matzo ball soup. No, we didn't neuter any matzo today.

Huh. For less than $60 per year, that might make sense even for people not on meds that make a trip more likely. If the cost of the ambulence ride were applied to my deductible for my health insurance, I might come out way ahead! Unfortunately, I haven't yet figured out a way to get them to apply what I'm paying for a certain prescription toward my out-of-pocket limit, because getting it through the insurance company is $158, compared to only $58 if I use a GoodRx.com coupon. So I do wind up paying a lot less, but I'm seriously annoyed that not only do they end up not paying anything for it, but it won't even count towards my annual out-of-pocket maximum. Hmm, to be fair, I probably haven't put as much effort into finding a way to get them to include it as I could.... *adds to page 537 of the To Do list*

Don't forget, Elliot has apparently met the conditions for getting non-girlie spells, too, now. It might just be that he can assume male forms too, he just hasn't tried it yet. (Or read his dang spellbook, but to be fair, he definitely has *not* had the chance to since that humming noise from the book. He gets a pass. This time. (But he'd better read up on at least the cell phone spell tonight!))

Huh. I had kinda thought the "apocalypse" Pandora was aiming for *was* a change in the rules of magic, to a system where elves were allowed to participate in normal life more. Interesting that she didn't know it was possible. Based on her reaction, I'm wondering if she experienced a magic reboot several "lives" ago, and thus only has a very vague memory of it. If memories of the llfe just past are like reading about that life in a book, is remembering the life before that like remembering reading about someone else vaguely remembering reading about it? Do they forget more and more about the first life each go-round or do they keep adding volumes to the series they are recalling reading, but recall them all about equally?

Actually, given the previously quoted commentary, I've always assumed Lavender's tail being draped across Edward's shoulders was what he was referring to as far as being a reason to declare the comic canon.

I find Susan so much more appealing in this sketch than any double-FV5 could be. Combine that with the fact that this outfit is relatively skimpier than Sarah's when compared to their respective usuals, and how she's blushing but still going for it. I do like Sarah's getting to live out her fantasies of being taller and having bigger boobs, and her happy expression reflects that.

Boobs that big would not have teeny tiny little stems. They'd wrap around the whole chest and onto the sides. I've seen real boobs that, while not as big as that, are bigger than Dan's usual double-FV5, and they do *not* have the C-cup-sized point of origin Dan pictures here. :-P When choosing a size, never go so big no one can play with them anymore!

Combine those two thoughts.....falling tea....bare feet.....

Wanna propose that swap in process for next month? ;-)

Patrick Stewart lost his hair very young. He used it as a selling point when he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, pointing out he could play young handsome heroes with a wig and old men without one. Either way, he's still one of the sexiest men alive! As for sketchbooks, hmm.... The moment that OTT is first proposed. Could be Grace with her arm around a furiously blushing Sarah, enthusiastically talking to a shocked but happy Tedd. Could be Tedd making the suggestion, with Grace cautiously watching to see how Sarah will react, or trying to calm down a Sarah clearly offended on Grace's behalf. Or it could be a sleepy comment from one of a familar tangle of barely-dressed bodies, with looks of contemplation on all three faces.

I've been wondering for a while now if Pandora isn't not nearly as insane as people think she is. Perhaps a very old Immortal just has a very broad perspective, to the point that anyone who has only lived one lifetime just cannot grasp their motives and reasoning. We're like a small child coming to a very wrong conclusion because they've never yet been exposed to the information all the grown-ups take for granted.

Well, an old standy is "If you could have one superpower, what superpower would you choose?" Sometimes it's narrowed down to Flying vs Invisibility. Of course, to my mind, the answer to the question would depend on what anciliary powers are included. Flying isn't much fun if you don't have a way to prevent windburn and bugs impacting on your face. Invisibility is much less useful if you can only make your own body invisible but not your clothes or anything else you're carrying. If teleportation includes being able to make sure you're not observed when you appear and not materialize in the middle of a wall, then can you use this sense when you're not teleporting, for example to know where the rooms are in a building and where the people are within them?

Catching up from last weekend, I was really happy to see another big Harry Potter book release party take over downtown MoperNaperville! Almost all the shops got into it to one degree or another, from renaming the ice cream shop to Florean's and the bookstore to Flourish & Blot's, to having portrait frames in the windows with a rotating cast of costumed characters appearing in the "moving portraits," to having a stage with "wizard rock" and costume contests and such. There were so many happy people sharing their love for the series! It didn't matter that the book wasn't a "real" Harry Potter book, just a script for a play that JKR didn't write. What mattered was getting to relive the fun, one more time! I was also happy to get to do another group painting class, this one on-theme of a castle on a steep mountainside, with water below and Quidditch hoops visible on the other side (although I made mine a Whomping Willow with a wolf sitting below it). I've really enjoyed playing around with the art, this being my fourth time, and I think I'm pretty good at it. I don't foresee buying an easel and a whole set of paints and brushes and canvases, but it's a lot of fun to try it out. Speaking of trying out creative stuff, MuseCon is this coming weekend, so I'm looking forward to a three-day weekend of using my brain in different ways.... :-D

So that's what really drove you insane!