So, if you've been out of the news cycle for a few days, you'd probably not be aware that the D.C. sniper, John Allen Muhammad, was put to death last night after his final appeal for a stay of execution was denied. Can I please interject and point out that this is ridiculous? We're trying to establish a precedent that killing people is the worst thing you can do and deserves the highest possible punishment, but at the same time, we're doing the same thing.

If the punishment fit the crime, we'd take the things that belonged to people who stole, we'd force rapists to have sex against their will and we'd disfigure people who mauled animals for fun. We don't do that because the punishment is cruel, unusual, and irreversible. Life in jail is no different from death - in fact, it could easily be worse, because even if you were the most hardened person on earth before you went in, you have a lot of time to think. I'm sure that some people realize what they did is terrible and have the rest of their lives stuck in squalor to live with that realization. Even if they don't, killing them accomplishes nothing. It doesn't bring back the people they killed, it doesn't undo the hurt the family of their victims feels, it does nothing.

I'm not going to cover my opposition to the death penalty point by point like I want to, but rather just address one of the most important justifications that people face and how last night, once again (like dozens of times before) it's been proven false.

People claim that putting murderers to death brings closure to their families. I've never really seen this. How does killing someone else fix the hurt of the death of a loved one? The body count of the crime's just ticked up. You don't ever hear people saying "I'm so glad that guy shot himself" after a murder-suicide. There's just one quote I'd like to point out from today's news that caught my eye.


Another man was killed to make this guy feel better, and he feels nothing. He just wants to see more people killed. And even then he realizes that putting someone to death does not fix his problem. Justice is not served, and all we have to show for it is another person killed by other people.

This has been a disjointed post but really, this whole thing just tears me up. The death penalty is an awful punishment that nobody deserves which starts oftentimes enough with a terrible, horrible mistake or mental illness, leads to years of stress and mental torment while forces beyond your control debate whether or not you deserve to live, and ends with the victim of this already awful punishment being laid out on an operating table in a sterile room with nobody nearby to comfort them, just the eyes of dozens of angry people staring him down as he's murdered in front of them.

It's fucking terrible. Nobody deserves to be killed. Not the victims of murders, not the murders themselves. We have to put an end to this shit.

Why is it this badass looking?

Still quest blues and greens. All awesome.

I won two free weeks of advertising on FA for new year's ball.

I need an ad.

Someone, help. Please. 

Hey, everyone! It's only two months to the annual New Years Furry Ball (2010 edition!) and I just wanted to remind you all that you should sign up on the pre-reg list and reserve your rooms now! I can plan this event all I want but what's made it special year after year has been the great turnout from members of the local furry community and our friends, and we want to make 2010 the best year ever! Last year we had almost 130 people come spend New Years' with us and we're totally hoping to have more this year, because we really like underestimating the badges we need and running out. Seriously - it's like a hobby. Make our night, please!

To get the important question out of the way, ADMISSION IS ONLY $10.

Come celebrate 2010 in style (well, sorta) at the (kinda) luxurious Comfort Inn & Suites in Quakertown PA! The event starts at 6pm on Thursday, January 31st, 2009 and lasts until at least 2am on January 1st. The skinny on the hotel is:

1905 John Fries Highway
Quakertown, PA, 18951

Phone: 215-538-3000

Room rates start as low as $110 for a single and go up from there, with some hot tub suites available for those of you who'd like to wind down in a warm tub with a bottle'a bubbly. Call and tell them you're with the group 'FURBALL' to get our awesome low, low prices!

Here's a quick FAQ on the event:

Q. What can I, the entertainment consumer, expect from this event?
A. I wrote a long answer to this but I think it can best be summed up with a quick list: video games, booze (if you're over 21,) great friends, live DJs, and plenty of raucous merrymaking. Prices on drinks for the night will be forthcoming but trust me, they'll be completely reasonable. I promise. Even if you're under 21, there's plenty of fun to be had with music, dancing and games.

Q. When do I have to reserve a room by to get it in your block?
A. The cutoff date for reservations is Monday, December 12, 2009. So get those reservations in while you can!

Q. Are there going to be activities the following day?
A. Again, I don't have precise details now but I'm going to plan a few group excursions for the next day to get people out the hotel and back on their feet, hangover or no. More details will be revealed closer to the event. As for the morning, the hotel offers free breakfast, so you can get some coffee and delicious food (really, it's quite good!) to start off your new year right.

Q. Can I help?
A. Absolutely! We're not a con, we don't have con resources, and we rely almost 100% on the generosity of our attendees to make sure the night's awesome. We could use a few game consoles, if people want to bring them by - we keep very close tabs on them and will have someone monitoring the game room at all times. Also, we need some 'staff' to help out with basic functions throughout the night.

• Security - Can you spot a wristband-less wrist from a mile away? Have a sixth sense for people who aren't wearing badges? Do you enjoy sitting near a door and greeting everyone walking through it? Security's the job for you - you don't need to do it all night, but we need people to do basic things like ensure people have badges to walk into rooms and ensure that our "no ID, no drinks" rule is properly enforced. Also, you can help with checking people in and registering them!
• DJs - Like playing music? We could use one or two more DJs to fill the night with thumpy, bouncy joy. Just toss me an e-mail at protocollie@protocollie.com with a demo mix or something and we'll see what we can do. Sound kit will be provided, just lemme know what you need available.

So that about covers it!

Oh, and one more thing!

Do me a big ol' favor and register your interest if you're planning on coming. It'll only take a minute and help us get an idea of who's coming - you don't need to pay now (in fact, you HAVE to pay at the door! How 'bout them apples?) You can 'register' at http://www.furrynewyear.com/register/. If you want to be on top of updates related to the event, don't forget to visit www.furrynewyear.com, follow us on twitter and join our LJ community! Questions or comments? Please email me at protocollie@protocollie.com.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

So, my birthday came and went and was pretty cool. Thanks to everyone who made a point of giving me a nudge to say happy birthday. I'm not super big on celebrating anymore, I mostly like to use it as an excuse to relax and take it a bit easy, so that was pretty cool. The main reason I'm posting is because I wanted to get it out there that I'm pretty lucky that I have a fabulous girlfriend who always knows how to make me smile, and a couple really simple things really made the day.

1. As a present, she totally hooked me up with like 2000g of her own hard-earned money on WoW which was enough to get my pally dual spec and cold weather flying. This is awesome, because I really want it to be my main and this helps a lot in leveling plus doesn't set me back anything on my quest for EPIC FLIGHT. Yep.
2. She made me an awesome, delicious and adorable cake that said "Elune be praised!" on it which I think is hilarious, so that's awesome, too.

Birthdays are really cool because the people you care about take a moment or two just to remind you that they care about you, and that made me really happy. Thanks a lot to everyone for making it a good day.

Speaking of my pally, for wearing all Outlands quest greens (and one Northrend quest weapon) she's looking pretty badass at this moment in time.

It doesn't hurt that I find draenei way awesome, though.

"You're welcome." I murr to Abigail a bit lustfully as I transform into a sexy anthro female squirrel. I was also naked. "Would you like to yiff now Abby?" 

I. I can't... words. Please, no.

Commerce sucks out loud since it became TD Bank. How come I can't view who's authorizing purchases on my debit card until after the payment is cleared?

That's ridiculous. Plus their phone wait time has increased exponentially.

TD Bank: Fuck you. 

You might just want to feast your ears on this shit.


It's more minimal so bear that in mind, and if you really want to cut to the good part... just jump to around 5:00, and listen to that goddamn build'n'drop. Awhfuck. This track chugs like a motherfucker. <3

Tanya drew me up the srs for shizzy most adorable reference to send along to Scribblefox for my suit, which I did.

The suit's name is going to be Costello. He's this crazy hybrid thing. Here you go!

I commissioned my suit. Money has been paid, i'm in the queue, aghghghfuffuckckckekekecuckckkkggkhghgjefufffuck.

It's going to be awesome.

Scribblefox (at onefurall) is building it and I've liked every suit I've seen him make (he's made two of my favourites, in fact. Unika and Oryx.)

I'm really, really, really excited. I cannot wait. The second I have concept arts I'm going to scream them at everyone so hard.

Ohmigod I'm gonna run circles outside for a while. 

 

There are definitely singles that are absolutely 100% made listenable by the mixing engineers who mixed them down. I totally want to point out one song as being a huge victim of this. I don't think most people know this track (I'm always mentioning it and nobody knows it, but god, it's EVERYWHERE.) I, personally, think this is one of the best pop rock singles in recent history and it's totally because it is a -wall of sound-. Listen to it in high quality - it's like the song is smacking you across the face and you're rushing through it, it's really intense, impeccably mixed and mastered. Seriously.


I mean, this engineer attacked the shit out of this song. This is a massively, massively engineered track. Those drums are quantized to hell and back, as are the lead guitar and the rhythm guitar. The singer's auto-tuned, and there is NO DYNAMIC RANGE. This song is always completely in fucking overdrive. There is no quiet, there is no relaxed, there is no anything other than a solid wall of sound with every crack filled with noise or reverberation. Even during the break, the audio spectrum's pretty much peaked across the board. This is a massively, epically engineered track and it's SO good because of it. Listening to it on big speakers it literally engulfs you.

The downside, of course, is that there's no way the band can ever live up to it. And part of the song's appeal is its overengineering.


They just can't do it. They can't live up to the track because the mixing engineer was the guy showing off. Now, they're doing an admirable job, considering, but I see a 1 in 10 chance for them not breaking one hit wonder status simply because this song sounds SO FUCKING PRISTINE that they'll never be able to get past it. I think this sound engineer deserves a grammy. Especially the final repeat of the chorus and coda where there's like fifteen synth lines, ten vocals, three guitars and tons of effects layered adklasjd fuck.

A fun drama event for the furry fandom that built up and burnt out faster than anything I've ever seen.

Within the period of six hours it went from nothing to HORRIBLE SEETHING RAGE to dramasplosion to downing FA AND the forums to multiple banhammers to a quick tapering down and now quiet.

Really, this was utterly ridiculous.

Holy shit Chrome 3 <3

...the cute I just witnessed.

I'm sorry to everyone who has to hear me fawn over my kittens like children. I think I'm feeling overprotective/attentive at the moment after all that craziness. Anyway, Pierre decided he was gonna fly onto the bed like he'd done a hundred times previously. See, Pierre knows that if he jumps up onto the bed and lands on my keyboard, he gets instant attention. And he did it a hundred times. But the last time... he missed. And he plowed, face-first, into the side of the laptop's screen. He stopped on the side of the bed, blinked a few times, rubbed at his nose with his paw, sneezed, and then hid under the bed.

Adorable.

Also, Pierre's very photogenic. Louis hides.

 Connecting to server...

You're now chatting with a random stranger. Say hi!

Omegle is not a dating site. Please try to have interesting conversations here!

You: hello.

Stranger: heyy pet

Stranger: asl.??

You: 4/housecat/under the bed

Stranger: ooh lovely

You: do you like housecats?

You: right now i'm licking my paw

Stranger: yeppp love them

You: my tongue is all covered in fur

You: oh baby

You: i'm hacking now

You: get a towel... a hairball's coming.

You: HACK

You: HACK

Stranger: that is yummy

You: HHHHHAACKK

Stranger: youu crep

You: oh god i spit it all over your new dress pants from louis vitton

Stranger: rotten piece of shit

You: they were like a thousand dollars

You: oh god

You: i'm tearing up the leather couch

You: RIPPP

You: RIPPPPP

You: i'm a bad cat

You: tell me i'm a bad cat

Your conversational partner has disconnected.

Before I fall asleep from sheer exhaustion after having to come home early from work, I wanted to share my new li'l cats with everyone.

Meet Pierre:



And Louis (our tiger!)




Tada!

P.S. Louis just totally prowled all the way across the room, hiding behind the fan, and my soda bottle, and the laundry basket on the way to jump on Pierre. At the last second, when he popped up from behind my shoes to pounce, Pierre looked, batted his paw at the air, and Louis stood up and wandered away acting like he wasn't doing anything. Then they both went to go talk to the ferret.

Really, they're totally adorable together.

This has been way, way harder than I thought it would be.

Light years.

Luckily I have someone I can rely on more than anything with me.

Seriously, you wouldn't think losing a cat you had for a month and a half would be this damn rough. I don't think I've slept more than a few minutes at a clip since we put him down and there's just still that image of watching it happen that's like... godDAMN I can't get it out of my head. I'd really hoped it would be like he'd just get sleepy and drowsy and sorta drift off, but he like yelped and then went completely tense and wide-eyed and stared at the wall smacking his lips for like five minutes completely unresponsive to anything before sorta settling down slightly with his eyes -wide- open. I don't even know, all I could do was pet him but it was so fucking hard to watch. That was only the sedative part, we couldn't stay for the second shot, and I'm glad. Everything I read about that makes it seem like that would be a thousand times harder to watch.

And then yesterday we thought we couldn't go through that again with Fez, Tanya's ferret we had to put down, and we didn't... and Tanya's been talking about it as well as me... I dunno the way he looked at us as the doctor took him away... I can't forget that either. I kind of wish I'd gone in with him. We wound up like, going to taco bell after and crying instead of eating much at all.

This has been the shittiest few days ever. It's been really nice that I've had someone to go through it with me and sorta cry on when I've been sad, but really it's been awful. The new cats are doing their best to cheer us up though, and they're really nice. Pierre is so curious and happy to investigate everything in the house. He also is really cute when he runs around on the bed and once he ran too close to the wall and slipped between the wall and the bed and it was really cute to watch his paws fly everywhere. He's also taking care of his brother Louis and helping him get used to the house. You can see he keeps trying to get Louis to play, and he'll get him a little further out from under the bed each time before Louis shoots back under it.

Louis is getting more friendly by the moment, too. You have to approach him very slowly, and no matter what he runs to the bed, but if you approach him -near- it, he'll sneak underneath it and then slowly come out to be pet. They both play together often, and purr so loud and so frantically it's adorable. I mean you can hear them from really far away and it's constant. Pierre likes to pretend he's a tiger (even though Louis looks SO much more like one) and growls and bites things playfully. If you scratch his back, he rolls onto it and puts his feet in the air, hugs around your arm and then licks at your fingers (though his claws are fairly sharp so it hurts a little.) They're really good cats and I'm really quickly growing very, very fond of them so I think that they'll be really good at making sure the house doesn't feel so lonely anymore with Sven gone.

I miss him a lot. He used to come into the shower with us every morning and sit on the sink to keep us company. Plus when the alarm went off, he knew it was time to hop on the bed and prance on our faces meowing loudly to wake us up, which was always really cute (even when it was annoying.) He was a really good cat. We still need to bake the little clay pawprint of his that they gave us. Tanya wants to take his few things and put them in a little box to remember him by - we have a little bit of his fur, the pawprint, his catnip mouse (which he never took an interest in unless we showed it to him, which I guess he did to make us happy) and his collar.

Okay enough rambling about the cats. Hopefully things get better soon.