The pre-content discussion had me vowing to look up accounting scandals like the Satyam scandal and Opes Prime (which is reminiscent enough of Optimus Prime to be interesting if only to wonder where the name came from). Even better, it turns out Wikipedia has a Corporate Scandals category - see Salad Oil scandal (because it's there).
( Read more... )
(Video Rental | Bremerton, WA, USA)
Me: “Thank you for calling [video rental store]. How can I help you?”
Caller: “Have you seen District 9?”
Me: “Yes, I have. Do have questions about it?”
Caller: “Is this some sort of Australian joke?”
Me: “I beg your pardon?”
Caller: “All this movie has been is interviews with government people and aliens wearing brassieres! Am I watching some weird special feature or is this some kind of Australian joke?”
Me: “Well, the movie is in a documentary style and that definitely sounds like the beginning of the movie. If you want, you can come down to the store and exchange it for no charge.”
Caller: “Thank you very much. Those Australians have a weird sense of humor, man. I should know…I used to be married to a Brit and they’re strange, too!”
Me: “All right, sir you have a good night.”
Caller: “OK. I will put in a decent movie now which is not an Australian joke.”
...government people and aliens wearing brassieres = Australian joke?
Guilty meercat

I like that people know they can take/ask/use and I like that they did.
I shall be release manager which I was already doing but it's now split off from the chair role and I'm looking forward to being able to focus on it. I'm also pleased and flattered people think this is a good idea (this may change in six months when everyone is cowering in fear and living in foxholes because I keep raving about deadlines and documentation).
I have cool stuff! I wheedled AO3 stats from
( AO3 Stats effective 22 Jan 2010 )
Arrived with
Lily Allen confused me at first (I had no prior knowledge) but her combination of cute and sass was very winning, plus entertaining wardrobe malfunction. I wanted to love Magic Dirt but their first song was a wall'o'sound I could not get over (which says I am an idiot for not bringing earplugs), I caught up briefly with cricketk before they cranked up so still calling that experience a win. I bailed for Powderfinger who were an excellent band to be right in the middle of the crowd for (good crowd too, playful, not trying to crush me to death and I thoroughly approve of crowd surfing being replaced by playing volleyball with inflatable objects). Muse were good. I enjoy them but they are not quite my thing, I find the music very same-same which is awesome if you really like it because they keep writing your song but harder for me to find a standout to love. *g* They did a cover of Back in Black that I loved to bits.
Utterly failed to catch up with
I thought about staying for Peaches which was 10-11pm (who I think would be very cool live) but my stamina ran out (plus working Monday) and we retreated home to assure the woofer he is still loved and scrub the sunblock off. The Big Day out smells of sunblock, green grass, burnt grass and fried meat products, weirdly the smell reminds me of dive trips - maybe it's the water they were spraying us with as well.
More importantly, the question people ask the most about their cat revealed below!
( Read more... )
**Acronyms summarised at the end.
The introduction was very comforting, I have been trying to have no expectations because most of the (many) CPAs I have worked with haven't had much personality overlap. I was concerned this would be a really challenging course to get into. The assessment is broad and has a test, team and peer assessment component as well as an exam (I like this model).
( Study notes... )
- Given the number of shops open on the 26th ‘public holiday’ I find myself wondering if it’s actually a white collar public holiday.
- Mamma Mia was fun the second time around, Brosnan still the low point - although very pretty (I assume singing is not his thing).
- Woofer doesn’t like doggy toothpaste, sad face is too sad so brushing accomplished without toothpaste with post brushing squeaky ball reward. Will see how he adapts to this in the long term, it’s only been a couple of days and he already approaches me when I‘m holding toothpaste as if he’s going into mourning. Aww
- Have finally bought a doorstop/wedge thingie as the combination of woofer breaking in at 5am to sleep on my floor (thump!) and
maharetr hitting snooze (alarum!) is making waking up a sort of multi-stage thing that happens well before my own alarm is due. While trying to find one most stores looked at me blankly but craft store offered me one I can also decorate when inspired. Yay!
Happy Invasion Day 2010 from Fear of a Brown Planet on Vimeo.
( Spoilers and things I didn't like )
- Stained Glass Heart by Catherine Asaro. Short story. Farmboy with a passion for dancing who is actually an interstellar prince runs into trouble when a marriage is arranged to a hot, but older General who does not love him. Fun, silly, I find I have less sympathy for men when the gender roles are reversed, I'll work on that.
- Skyfall by Catherine Asaro. Chronologically this is book one of the Skolian saga and ninth written so it seemed liked a good entry point. I came in expecting science fiction or maybe space opera and wasn’t quite prepared for cracktastic romance. I am gonna swipe part of a review I read because it’s so perfect Roca, psion queen and ballerina(!) with the body of a porn star is swept away by hunky barbarian on horseback. Please note this is a genetically modified purple horse with prismatic horns.
- Gossamer Axe by Gael Baudino. Re-reading. Musical feminist fantasy, sweet.
- After Long silence or The Enigma Score by Sheri Tepper. Re-reading. Alien first contact… it takes a while because the humans get shunned for years on account of not being truthful. I am very fond of this bit: “…sang of greed and pride, things that the viggies understood to some extent. She sang of lying, which they did not understand but were willing to take on faith. Then together they sang of what they had learned,…”
- Souls by Joanna Russ. Novelette (20k words) in which a Nun runs rings around a Viking horde and then it turns out to be science fiction.
- When it Changed by Joanna Russ. (4.4k words) in which Man makes contact with Whileaway, which is sadly unimpressed.
- Reading for pleasure while on AO3/AD&T break has been great. I must try to make more time for it. Have finally ordered a copy of the elusive Marianne, the Madame, and the Momentary Gods by Sheri Tepper.
- Lime tree has stopped sulking after the repotting and has started growing new leaves. I am kind of stupidly excited about this.
- Power failure last night,
maharetr and I grabbed torches, the woofer and the bubble blowing equipment and headed for the local park. - Got current on Chuck, now to catch up on White Collar.
- Started catching up on tagging the supernatural newsletter, we're six months behind. Stats will be forthcoming when I've caught up a bit. This may take a while - if anyone wants to help that would be wonderful.
- Going to the Big Day Out this year! I have bands to stalk :)
( Various quotes... )
This is your chance to help change that.
There's sticky black stuff clinging to the fence and a burnt wasteland behind it. I feel like it should still be shrouded in smoke or something but of course it's summer - clear, blue skies and warm winds.



( Footage )
Re-reading except for Scout's Progress which, by some freak sequence of events I hadn't read yet. Yay for comfort-space opera.
Sat 11pm to 1am but I've been practicing staying up late (am a morning person usually) so was pretty easy on me. This meeting was about an hour of 'stuff wot we have to work on' and an hour of 'winding up the 2009 term'. Winding up was good fun; we had a chance to talk about what we liked in 2009 and what could be better - mostly we want to keep improving our communication, processes and knowledge transfer. Plus, you know, keep working on and improving the AO3 - we know it still has a long way to go!
AD&T Update: AD&T has now officially dissolved as a committee, the 2010 committee will form and meet on 30th January. *hands over sparkly tiara of chairness* We tried to avoid doing any more work in the last two weeks but didn't quite succeed.
- 25 Dec 2009 Release 0.7.2.5 (5 items)
- 25 Dec 2009 Release 0.7.2.6 (1 item) - quick performance fix
- 26 Dec 2009 Release 0.7.2.7 (3 items
- 31 Dec 2009 Release 0.7.2.8 (20 items)
Deploy Schedule: We've got a few things coming up, the deploy is tentatively scheduled for 16th January.
- Tag Wrangling: interface is no longer able to cope with the sheer number tags our wonderful users have been adding so we're sorting that out.
- Collections & Challenges: we built the bits that meant we could run Yuletide in an ad hoc fashion. Now we can start fleshing out the design and adding all the features it needs.
If there are things you want to do/say - feel free to share either in comments, or by volunteering, or whatever medium you're comfortable with. You are invited to this party :)
This post may also be found on the Archive of Our Own which is commentable by anyone with or without an AO3 account.
( Read more... )



