Happy to Be Here *

Gacked this from telophase! http://womenfighters.tumblr.com/ Women fighters wearing reasonable armor!

How about A free life affairs organizer? Seems pretty useful to me, even just as a starting point.

Giant red crabs move in on Antarctica. I have nightmares that start off this way. This isn't good news.

I like Tessa's comics, 'nuff said.

Goodbye to All That: Reflections of a GOP Operative Who Left the Cult. To be honest with you, I keep getting republicans and democrats mixed up. In my mind, republicans favour the monarchy and democrats favour a democratic government. I suppose it isn't any more confusing that having a Liberal Party that is more conservative than the New Democratic Party? Or, heck, look at those Progressive Conservatives! What? You're... progressively conservative... how? *scrubs brain* At least I know where I stand with the Green Party and the Marijuana Party.

I'm digging RookieMag.com. When I was a shy, sad little teen I would have never been brave enough to submit anything. (Of course, there was no Internet back then, either.) But, retroactively, I think teen Tammy would have appreciated a magazine like this.

A little high school anecdote from me: One day, in grade ten, I was trying out being confident. Instead of slouching and refusing to make eye contact, I threw my shoulders back and walked proudly down the hall, meeting people's eyes and smiling. I hadn't even made it between classrooms when a complete stranger decided to take me down a peg, "You're a stuck-up bitch!" Just one of the things that convinced me I should stay in the background as a teen.

Huge underground river found beneath the Amazon - Ooooh! Totally fired up my imagination.

Cleancoder - "Writings on Clean Code, Design, and all things software".

I was riding around in C.'s shirt pocket this morning!

Smashing Magazing has a UX section now!

Seven Ideas for Preparing Food at Home Cheaply with Minimal Space and Resources

Soaking beans

So... C. and I are both full-time employed in jobs we trained for. We're making pretty good money and don't carry consumer debt aside from our mortgage. But I figure it can't hurt to tighten our belts before we might find a need to and learn how to economize, right?

So I'll be passing on any useful links I might find in my travels down this path.

Sometimes, it's worth it to google fruit-picking in your city! Operation Fruit Rescue Edmonton is an example of a volunteer organization that picks fruit and berries for home-owners who can't. You get 1/4 of the share of fruit, 1/4 goes to the homeowner, 1/4 to the Food Bank, and 1/4 goes to the organization for processing. It's great for those of us in apartment-style condos with no yards to grow our own!

Ugh. It must be summer because my blogging has seriously been on a summer schedule.

Hidden Worlds: What Goes on Behind Your Favorite Webpages - ahhahaha! Beautiful!

Why are restaurant websites so horrifically bad? - When you, as a visitor, think about a restaurant web site there are, really, only three things you want to see; menu (with prices), hours, location... amirite? Also, I'd like that Web site to be easily accessible from a smart phone.

Meridith Gran says: you want to support women in comics, then pay them

What it's like being a writer - Ha!

Edible Star Wars sushi garnishes

Designers, Do You Really Know Anything About Design? - I especially like their blog recommendations for learning design theory.

Online business tools that make your life easier

My Body Gallery - an intriguing site where you can browse bodies that look like yours to help you get a better grip on what you look like. For example, this photo is pretty much what my body looks like! :O And this photo is more where I want to end up. I don't know how it works for other people, but it's reassuring for me to see these ladies with similar body types and realize that yes, when I'm 180lbs at 5'9" a size 12-14 is normal and is there a huuuge difference between how I look at 180lbs and 165lbs? Hmmmm....

How America Turned Poverty into a Crime - Very interesting stuff.

Social-media justice... I'm not going to lie. I can see how it's a useful tool but it bothers me a lot. I very strongly believe in privacy when in public. I don't like cameras on the streets. Google streetview makes my skin crawl when there are people in the shots.

London's police force is crowd-sourcing IDs of looters from the riots and I have strongly conflicting feelings about it. Especially as there's now a Google-made face recognition software being used. My skin. Is. Crawling. Yes, of course I think there needs to be justice served but this... it is disquieting.

Google map of the London riots

Oh, you sexy geek panel from SDCC round up.

http://www.geekgirlcon.com GeekGirlCon is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting awareness of and celebrating the contribution and involvement of women in all aspects of the sciences, science fiction, comics, gaming and related Geek culture through conventions and events that emphasize both the historic and ongoing contribution and influence of women in this culture.

I want to see this so badly: Miss Representation

and this: This History of the Universe as Told by Wonder Woman

The cost of being female

Harry Potter the teen romance version

Seamless Studio Is pretty keen if you want to make seamless backgrounds for your Web site. If you're a colour lovers member you can get $20 off.

Growing a new eye

The courtship dance of the peacock spider - I laughed so hard during this video. The leg-waving HEY! HEY OVER HERE! HEY LOOKIT MEEEE! made me lose it.

Passerine Gynandromorphy Collage - Fascinating! Such marked bilateral-ism is so interesting to see!

New photos and videos are going up over at my pet's web site: http://mypetisafoambrick.tumblr.com More to come!

New videos from my mountain vacation have been uploaded to my Youtube account: http://www.youtube.com/user/tammalee
More to come!

Ugh. I've been wanting to draw Legschilla for SO LONG! Finally, I broke down and bought a new scanner (four years without one) and drew him! >=D He's a baaaadchilla! Punkchilla! Purplechilla...? 'Chilla' is fun to say!

Hm. I had written 'post-faction' in the subject line. I wonder what THAT means?

Woke up this morning to the krack-BOOM of thunder right over my head. The rising sun was cloaked in mist and the light was orange and apocalyptic. I was not the only person in my office to wander their domicile wondering if it were a dream or reality. Amazing.

OMG! BATTLEKITTENS ART BOOK! Okay, srsly, I know I'm supposed to save money but... GDI! Battlekittens! I LOVE her illustrations!

Cramming: a reprehensible practice - My cell phone bill may be okay? I should really review it more often...

Martha Wells tells us, Don't be that guy.

Moo now has oodles of sticker options! I may have to order something...

New painting is in the planning stages. Writing has been nil! Vacation was restful but now I have an inbox that needs massaging. <3

My new flash, horror fiction is available for free over here!

It's been described as 'deliciously creepy' and I should warn it's a zombie story so expect a bit of ick.

Whaaat? An update on the weekend? MADNESS!

It's cold and raining today so I put on my Mickey Mouse shirt, a pair of plaid shorts, and yellow striped socks and I'm spending the day on the futon under fuzzy blankets. There will be writing and arting and watching real estate programs on television.

TAKE THAT FOUL WEATHER!

Anyhow, my laptop has a buncha links I need to share.

ARE YOU A WRITER?! DO YOU LIKE CONTESTS?
Monster Makeover: Re-vamp short story contest - This is a super cool project and they've already got a tonne of good stories to read in their archives! ((And I have a ghost story in there! And a zombie story on the way!))

Super Obvious Secrets That I Wish They’d Teach In Art School

More Eric/Charles X-men: First Class slash fic recommendations

A video of Jim Woodring explains Weathercraft. Weathercraft is one of the strangest, most intriguing little comics I've ever read.

Kind Formatting for Web Geeks <-- useful!

OH GOD! ANGRY BIRDS FOR CHROME and it's free. Good-bye productivity today.