Toadfish Monastery

Happy New Year to you all!

New Species Found on Monastery Island!

The rare and unique Squidlings and the ever present Belfry Bats of the Toadfish Monastary island now have company!

Earlier this week a new species was found during a search for pickled sausages at Admiral Benbow's Tavern.

For several months jars containing pickled foods have been mysteriously disappearing from the shelves of Admiral Benbow's locked cellars, accusations has been thrown about, but no culprit has been apprehended, not even after rigorous traps was set with pickled herring as bait.

In the lower, perpetually flooded, old cellar of the Tavern a nest built of numerous empty pickle jars was found. The nest also contained a octopus shaped chandelier (origin unknown) and a gargoyle from the roof of the library tower.
The disappearance of gargoyle was earlier blamed on the Squidlings who seems to have been innocent this time.

The new species was quickly named "Krakling". It is reported to be slightly larger than the squidling and of the order Octopoda rather than the Teuthida to which the Squidlings are believed to belong.

At least 10 individuals were spotted, all had different markings and colours when observed. It is however unknown if the Kraklings can change their colour as a means of communication like many other sub-species of Octopoda.

It seems the Kraklings are able to move around on land with ease as long as they can rehydrate now and then. As we all know both Portsmouth and the monastery grounds are riddled with fountains, ponds, and channels, so Pirates and inhabitants of the Monastery be warned, the new arrivals can open jars and climb walls and they seem to be especially fond of old leather, anything shiny, pearl or gemstone-like as well as pickled foods.

From traces that has been uncovered in the nesting area they might be up to as much mischief as the Squidlings. 



Darla Deadwater
Internee at the The Portsmouth Aaarrrrggghhhus - all the news that's unfit to print
   

What does your desk or other place where you sit by your computer and write posts here looks like?

At another forum I used to visit we played a little game "show your desktop", one took a print screen of the computer desktop and posted it. It was rather fun to find differences and similarities between people half a world away. 

I'd like to widen the picture and show the whole physical desk. Are you game?

Here is my den.

I have just signed the petition "A STAND FOR DEMOCRACY IN THE DIGITAL AGE" on Change.org.

A petition against mass surveillance on the internet, I think this is important, so I post the link below.

I'm fed up with NSA, and their Swedish little brothers FRA reading mails and logging phone calls and messages.

There isn't much one small person can do against a government, but one can at least try.
Opening a letter and reading somebody else's mail is considered a crime, and if the police wishes to do so they need to go to prosecutor and get a search warrant. I think the same should apply for mails and cellphone messages.



http://www.change.org/petitions/a-stand-for-democracy-in-the-digital-age-3?share_id=KOUKrtDByM&utm_campaign=signature_receipt&utm_medium=email&utm_source=share_petition


Please read the petition and sign if you feel that this is something you can stand behind.

Darlica

This one is for you Swato 


http://www.etsy.com/se-en/listing/158407914/octomoose-pendant-bronze-sculpture?ref=related-5


I have met the artist, she used to have a shop just down the street from where L and I lives.
She has a lot of fun, freaky, and beautiful items in her Etsy shop. 

Gigant squids from all over the world are closely related.

http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2013/03/20/3719591.htm

Thomas Gilbert from the Centre for GeoGenetics at the University of Copenhagen has analysed the mitochondrial DNA of 43 specimens collected from around the world and the differences are so small that they are quite sure that there only is one species instead of three or eight as was earlier suspected.


       

A spawn of the "Topic: Signs of getting old... meh." thread.


Swedes are as I said very serious about their coffee. The Finnish people consumes the highest quantity coffee per capita/year. Runner up is Sweden with a consumption of 10 kilograms per person/year... Norway and Denmark takes places 3 and 4.

Dark to Medium roasted Arabica beans grown in Brazil it what traditionally sells the most in Sweden, but most shops carries Kenyan, Indonesian, and Colombian coffee and uncountable blends as well...

We drink considerably less tea about 3-5 hectograms person (depends on source of statistics) and bagged teas is most common form. But as I said before Loose tea isn't really difficult to come by here.

Most of the time I drink tea, preferable black teas. I like smoky teas like Lapsang or caravan but  that kind of tea is a mood thing for me. Most of the time I end up with something like Assam, PG tips strong or English breakfast...

Personally I like my coffee freshly brewed, strong and with milk (my stomach doesn't tolerate that I take my coffee black even if I like it that way )

So what are your drinking habits?

 

So, it's been the 21 first of December for more than 6 hours in Australia now...

Any zombie infestations, strange quartets of horsemen, talking animals  etc. yet?

Please report your findings!

The other night when I was supposed to sleep I came to think of things that I remember from my youth, and, that younger generations probably never experience again because of the technology moving forwards.


As a kid staying at a friend finding and going through a her older sisters stash of glossy magazines (think cosmopolitan but less ads and more text) when one was far to young for articles about "positions" or love horoscopes, I still remember some of the short stories...  Oh my,  how interesting it was!  
The risk of getting caught was half of the kick I suppose.
(older brothers seemed much better at hiding their stuff I suppose that was a good thing... )

_{(Now everything is available on the net 24/7 and the odds are pretty high that there is a teenager that doesn't know how to remove the "Safe seach" setting their parents might have set the computer on...  What that might lead, pushed envelops and all is another story... this one is about nostalgia.. )}

Or how it was to wait for 2-3 weeks for the answer to a letter sent to a friend overseas (my best friend spent a year as a student in Michigan U.S. when she was 16 and I was 15).
The feel of "Air mail" paper, Do you remember? Do they even make those extra lightweight papers any more?
When a letter in the mail was the only affordable way to keep in contact over such distances? (I did get to call her once, on her birthday, I think we both cried most of the time...)
And how happy I was when one of those letters arrived, reading was almost like talking to her.  


Or getting yelled at my father for hogging the only phone in the house for hours... Not that I miss that... Today's fathers probably throw fits about the cellphone bill instead...


In my later teens I once found a pocket book at a bench on the platform of an empty train station, it was raining and the covers where already soggy, I picked it up, began to read and fell in love -with science fiction. The book was Neuromancer by William Gibson. I still have that book in my bookshelf destroyed cover and all.



Do you guys have any especially fond memories of the pre-digital era?

See, I've fallen for the smartphone hysteria and bought a Samsung Galaxy s2...

Lovely little thing BTW  and now I wonder how I get to the unwrapped(?) monastery site...


I'll tell you about the phone thingy later.  

You might have heard about this on the news. We have had our first Islamic suicide bomber in Sweden.
First: L and I are fine, we where both at home at the time for the explosions.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11978389 
This article is a bit out dated by now, but it is at least a readable one.

Fortunately it seems like the bomber was an amateur as only one of the six pipe bombs he was carrying exploded and it seems to have gone of prematurely as he was very close to but not on one of Stockholm's busiest streets.

The bomber died at the detonation but only two bystanders was injured, however several people who witnessed the whole thing was severely chocked.

I don't want to think of what would have happen if he had manage to detonate all of the bombs  in one of the near by malls/stores (think Debenhams) or in the underground...
The city was filled with Christmas shoppers, it would have been a massacre and a stampede.

Sadly I've been waiting for this since the London bombings. I think next time we won't be so lucky.

Ironically the 11 Dec is also a day the Swedish neo-nazi movement is on their feet's marching in Salem near by Stockholm, celebrating the memory of a (skinhead) teenager who got killed in the aftermath of fight (10 years ago this year)... Which meant that most of the regions police force was actually on duty this day but busy elsewhere. I wonder if he planned with that.

I've just ordered a Asus Eee PC 1005PED. 

I seems like I've have to wait about 2 weeks to get it but it is hopefully worth it. I was actually looking at an older and cheaper model, went to a retail barn to see one for real and then saw this one...
Better keyboard (it feels better anyway) and better memory, processor and battery life.
Comes with Windows7 starter.


I've been meaning to buy a new laptop for almost a year but not found one that I really liked. I do like my old HP pavilion laptop and I'm not happy to give it up since it been such a workhorse for 5 years! But the processor isn't fast enough for the new generation of programs and the RAM is too small etc.etc.
I've looked at the new HP pavilions laptops, but I've come to realise that what I really need is something small I can bring with me to work (spending hours in a ticket booth at late nights is boring and right now I could use it at work too) plus a regular desktop PC for the photo editing and drawing.

Step 1 was to get the netbook.

I'll tell you more when it has arrived.

Happy New Year Siblings!

The first decade of this century is on it's last leg and it's time to sum it up.

Sooooo, what was the best and the worst, the funniest and the saddest and defining moments?

And what and who will we remember form this century?


I'll add mine in a while.

Lindorm and I wishes you all
A Merry Christmas and A Happy Holiday!

Today we celebrate Lucia in Sweden, also known as Saint Lucy in the English speaking world.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Lucy%27s_Day


As most swedes are protestants and usually don't celebrate saints the celebrating of Lucia is taking mostly profane expressions. Young folks are getting drunk on Glögg (sweet glühwine) among other things... 

Singing and lightning candles are I guess what is left of the old traditions, that and the Lussekatt sweet saffron buns with raisins or almonds.

I made saffron buns yesterday, so we could have some for breakfast to day.
I like this tradition it lights up the winter gloom, too bad I can't sing though, but I can light candles and bake so I'll stick to that.




Edit: I just read trough the wiki article... 
Of cause the heathens here wasn't afraid of the devil... The devil is a Christian figure pre-Christian religion here has no such creature, evil yes, devil no.

During the longest night of the year as during the shortest and the equinoxes the unseen comes out to play, and during the longest night the evil is dominant force and you did what you could to preserve your family your home and your animals against this evil. including keep the lights and fires burning trough the night, mark your houses, stables and larders with sacred symbols.   

Also every Lucia procession I ever seen has had one crowned "Lucia" or more (kids groups usually have more than one  ) I have never seen one without a crowned girl though.

And he's a mellow, cosy, fellow.

A BBC team exploring a since long inactive volcano in Papua Guinea has found what is to be believed the worlds biggest true rat.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8210000/8210394.stm



Now of cause, the people living in the area knows about the rat since for ever... it's dinner now and then, but since when does that counts... it's the white man's scientific Latin names that count right?

That said, I think it is good they caught the little critter on tape, hopefully it will help it's survival.







Also. I want one!

I'm trying to put together a website for my own little business, I'm using Dreamweaver 8 and right now I'm pulling my hair, I want this done with so I can go on hunting for new assigners but I'm getting nowhere. This is sooo not my field...

Does anyone with the knowhow feel like helping me out?
Walk trough? Construction?

The site will be fairly simple: a welcoming page, a gallery page, 2 or 3 pages for pictures mixed with text. all pages will have a deep green navigation sidebar. If someone is interested in helping me I'll mail or post my sketches.


I can't pay, but credit will be given where it's due and you will have an huge IOU to call in if you ever want something like a personal logotype, special birthday card or any other drawn item...

/Darlica

Are there an artist or a special song that makes you turn off the radio?

It's not about what music you generally don't listen to, but artists or songs that you just can't stand, that makes you switch channels, turn the radio off or leave the room at a party?


Personally I have problems with several artists...

First out two Swedish singer-songwriter obscure to you but well known and close to being worshipped in Sweden:
Ted Gärdestad the patron saint of all wannabe singer song-writer boys with thin voices...
and Ulf Lundell, who paints him self as the Swedish equivalent to Dyland and Springsteen in one body with a nasal, drawling voice.

Bob Dyland, I don't know why but I simply can't stand the man's voice, it make my skin crawl...




And of cause it's all about taste and personal point of view.

I installed the new modem/router yesterday evening.

It's a Scientific Atlanta, EPC2434 modem/WiFi router.
Now, the modem was nice and easy to deal with, the only problem was that:
1) the internet provider needs to register the modem before it can be used and that wasn't done.
2) I got no information about that what so ever when I ordered the modem and the instructions said nothing about it either.
3) When I called the support they automatically assumed that I had done something wrong like not connected the modem with the computer and started to talk to me like I was a two year old.
 
When I finally got them to listen to what I said about having a connection but only getting a page asking for login information I didn't have and they figured out that the problem actually was on their side and a reboot of both modem and computer everything went smooth.

So now we have wireless internet, which is a good thing as we have two laptops and L just bought an Lenovo IdeaPad (like an Eeee but a little bigger and a lot meaner).

Also I can use internet from my own laptop again instead of hijacking L's big and slow desktop computer. 

Next step would be to create a network so all computers (Desktop old and slow, L laptop, my laptop and perhaps even L's little Lenovo) can use the printer as well as communicate with each other, however I have tried to do this several times before and never succeeded, so I'm not looking forward to it neither do I prioritize it.   It feels like it is at least two levels above my current computer Fu.


So far having a modem and router in one has been a good thing, less cables to trip over, less energy consumption and a one ugly grey plastic box less that take up space and collect dust and a huge bonus is that the internet provider can't blame eventual trouble on my not by them approved router (I didn't buy it from them that was the only trouble) any more as whole thing is theirs...