Lysander of Alexandria

Whew, it's dusty in here

2007-09-11T12:26:00.001-04:00

Well, crap.

It's been a while, I suppose I should clear out the cobwebs and get moving on this.

Hopefully, Blogging version 2 will be more active.

Semi-Random quiz

2006-04-10T14:38:00.000-04:00

Thanks to the Llamas.

While waiting for a callback from the VSB, here's a quiz result:

You scored as Natural Causes. Your death will be by natural causes, though not by any diseaese, because that is another option on this test. You will probably just silently pass away in the night from old age, and people you love won't realize until the next morning, when you are all purple and cold and icky. So be happy, you won't be murdered.

Gunshot

60%

Natural Causes

60%

Disappear

60%

Bomb

53%

Posion

53%

Cut Throat

47%

Suicide

40%

Stabbed

40%

Eaten

40%

Suffocated

33%

Accident

33%

Disease

27%

Drowning

20%

How Will You Die??
created with QuizFarm.com

ABANDON YOUR CARS NOW!

2006-02-11T11:53:00.000-05:00

As alerts and crazed messages are passed around the greater Metro Dee Cee area about the impending blanket of heavy snow, all I can say is an important Public Service announcement to those on the Beltway, 66, 395, 270, and so forth:

SNOW! ABANDON YOUR CARS NOW! RUN! GET MILK, BREAD, AND TOILET PAPER! (why that, I have no idea, but if you've ever been in a grocery store around here when the alarm goes out...)

Your Tax Cuts at work:

2006-02-10T15:29:00.000-05:00

Gov't Budget Surplus Hits $21B for Jan.

The federal government ran a $21 billion budget surplus last month, the best January showing in four years, as both spending and tax receipts set records for the month.

The Treasury Department said the government spent $209 billion last month, a record amount for January and up 7.9 percent from January Government tax receipts, however, also set a record for the month of $230 billion, up 13.7 percent from January 2005.

I thought that the government would run out of money, to hear the Moonbats spin it, with all those eeevil tax cuts in place.

Feh!

Calling Steve... Calling Robbo...

2006-01-30T08:15:00.000-05:00

I heard this on the radio this morning guys.... you have a cousin that got llose or something?

Crew? We doan need no steenkin crew!

2006-01-27T17:00:00.000-05:00

I suppose I could go along with this, so long as you kept the "first three" the hell away from me! (Then again, I was aiming at B5.... how the hell did I miss?)

You scored as Millennium Falcon (Star Wars). The world around you is at war. Fortunately you know how to handle that with the greatest of ease. You are one of the best at what you do and no one needs to tell you that. Now if only the droids could be quiet for five seconds.

Millennium Falcon (Star Wars)

75%

Deep Space Nine (Star Trek)

69%

Nebuchadnezzar (The Matrix)

69%

Enterprise D (Star Trek)

69%

SG-1 (Stargate)

69%

Moya (Farscape)

63%

Andromeda Ascendant (Andromeda)

63%

Babylon 5 (Babylon 5)

63%

FBI's X-Files Division (The X-Files)

56%

Serenity (Firefly)

50%

Galactica (Battlestar: Galactica)

44%

Bebop (Cowboy Bebop)

44%

Your Ultimate Sci-Fi Profile II: which sci-fi crew would you best fit in? (pics)
created with QuizFarm.com

Prepare to Ululate!

2006-01-18T00:32:00.000-05:00

The Almighty Allah is now posting. First, it starts with links, and then....

graphics. Lots of graphics. I hope!

Best Blond Joke Ever

2006-01-05T12:20:00.000-05:00

Is here. Even if it gets me killed. And, it applies to non-blondes as well. So. Read. Enjoy.

New Virginia Laws

2006-01-01T11:50:00.000-05:00

File under: Legal
IN PROGRESS

The biggest changes in Virginia Law taking effect today is the baby-step to blending Law and Equity. No, they have not merged, and there's no plans to merge them.

HOWEVER, the Supreme Court rules have changed: all actions, legal and equitable, are now Civil Actions. No more Motions for Judgement and Bills of Complaint, just Civil Actions. A whole slew of laws have changed to reflect this, but substantively, they appear the same. (Disclaimer: I'm not your lawyer. You didn't pay me. This isn't legal advice. Want to hire me? Good - but "Lysander" won't appear anywhere on the Retainer Agreement, capiese?)

As I become aware of others, I'll add 'em up here.

Happy New Year.

2006-01-01T11:13:00.000-05:00

To my 4.78 Readers, Happy New Year.

Resolutions (in re This Blog) for the New Year:

1) Post more often. Conversely, post "I'm busy!" rather than leave long, unannounced, hiatuses.

2) Some sort of "File under" tag line for posts (not including this one). No idea how I'd implement it in Blogger, but if it can be done, all the better. that way, if it's a rant, it'll say so. If it's a work-related rant, it'll clue in JohnL and Robbo to read it.

3) Keep my damn blogroll up to date.

4) Link more often. Yes, The great linkage debate: if a tree fell on me in the middle of the woods, and I had no links to it, would anyone know, much less hear it?

4a) Not realy a resolution, but figure out why my trackback pings (via Haloscan) don't work with the Maximum Leader's domain?

5) Finish pithy posts. Both already posted, and trapped in the purgatory of the "Drafts" area. (5a: Spell Check. I caught this one pre-posting)

That's all I can think of for now.

Well, I already am, so thanks for the confirmation.

2005-12-29T18:47:00.000-05:00

Traits of a Successful Business Person
High desire to achieve
Moderate desire for power
Low desire for interaction with others

The optimal score ranges from this quiz that reflect the above characteristics are an Achievement score of 10 or higher, a Power score between 7 and 11, and an Interaction score less than 4.

Well, I scored a 15, 9, and 4, respectively.

http://bscusa.com/resources/success_quiz/enteringbiznetscape.htm

Random mid-day lazyness

2005-12-29T16:20:00.000-05:00

Having put in some billable hours and then off to many administravia type things, I took a second (or more) for some blog-surfing. To whit, there's the "Which Superhero are you?" quiz; I apparently am Iron Man.

Your results:
You are Iron Man

Iron Man		65%
Green Lantern		65%
Spider-Man		65%
The Flash		60%
Hulk		60%
Superman		55%
Catwoman		50%
Supergirl		50%
Robin		42%
Wonder Woman		35%
Batman		35%

Inventor. Businessman. Genius.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Test

And, something the legal profession counts for:

Immediate Random Musings about Civ 4

2005-12-27T12:07:00.000-05:00

I installed the patch, liberating me from zero-terrain hell. However, there's other, ahem, features of the game that I'm having to adjust in the Civ III(edit: THREE, dammit.)-to-Civ IV-as-primary-Civ-game-migration, that I'm not sure I like.

1) Lack of centering on units while moving. I liked the old snap-to design, though it didn't work often. Now, it doesn't seem to work at all. Rather than plot out moves in advance, I might go back to manual control on all. It's just odd to have everything move and THEN be able to try to undo things.

2) Forced Perspective. In single and hotseat, the game seems to switch back to ass-level perspective on the units. Please, I need an overview. And, why change from the diamond-centric map to squares? Civ-Net, anyone? (Yes, I know you can change to a 45 Deg perspective, but see the beginning of this musing. It snaps back. After you go off that map. Not fun to reset it all the time.)

3) Worker Strikes in 3000 BC. Or, How the interface change screwed my capital city. Now I know what that little plus/minus next to the workers does. At some point I probably accidentally clicked that, looking for the on-screen "Leave City Display" button (which doesn't seem to exist. Hey, guy, whatswiththat?) I spent the next thousand-plus game-years assiging the little bastard to work (in the mines!) only to have him sitting his electronic ass at home next game-turn. Each. And. Every. Turn.

4) Non-invading without a formal declaration of invading. Ok, so I find an enemy city. What happened to the "Dammit, you're in my territory, get out!" diplomacy that used to happen? I mean, it was a great way to get on the opposing Civs nerves (even the AI ones) and have them declare war first (only to get stomped). Now, I can't even enter the cultural zone without a "Yes, I declare war on you, you scum" first. What happened to sneak attacks? It kind of gives it away if I can't "accidentally-on-purpose" stumble all them troops across your border if I have to give a statement of intent on crossing the frontier.

The learning curve between Civ III and Civ IV seems to be greater than it was in Civ II to Civ III. What has yet to be seen is whether Civ IV cheats like II or III. II was a notorious cheater. (Planes have range. A fighter can't fly over the entire bloody map without crashing - unless it's Civ II and it's an AI controlled Fighter.)

I'm not sure how this will eventually stack up; Since the Worker Strike didn't help anything at the beginning, my usual game plan is off bigtime. That' and having to find a replacement for the Carthaginians didn't help. At least I got to "found" Judaism, so many bonus points there.

But... I said I was a Lawyer

2005-12-22T18:31:00.000-05:00

And it gives me this, anyways!

How evil are you?

Maximum Leader, how can this be?

A post, but not the post I was looking for.

2005-12-21T16:16:00.000-05:00

Year In Review. Somewhat.

I meant to have a post on another subject, but that will be at some undetermined, but relatively short time from now. Subjectively. No Warranties, express or implied. You get the picture.

The year is almost over; No shit - really. Yesterday was spent entirely on (1) writing an appeal that I really did not want to write, despite ethical obligations to do so. That, and the VSB is really really finicky about these things getting in on time (by personal experience - not the "this happened to me" personal experience, but the "I can't talk about it for reasons of Confidentiality" personal experience.) and, well, I've grown attached to my clean record and law license. So, with three days to spare on the clock, Rule 5A.12 was complied with in full, and the SOB was sent off. That consumed more time than I really wanted it to. Then again, writing about it now consumed more time than I want to spend on it actually doing it. Meh.

The next thing is Cards. You know, the things people stick in the windows to say "See? Someone sent me a card!" card. Some even had business cards stuck in with them them. Because you can never have too much advertising under the restictions Rule 7.2 has. (I knew the Va.S.Ct rule without looking it up. The Professional Guideline rule, I looked up. For the numbers, not for the content.) That took more time than the abomination, er, appeal took. And more money; I burned through too much postage on the stamping-machine to send the bloody things. And, if you're gonna look in your mailbox and say "I didn't get a card, business or otherwise" well, it usually helps to have mailing addresses. There's still time left (Hannukah doesn't end until January 2, so it's still the "Holiday Season."

I have at least three cases lining up for first of year filings (Ain't the new year fun. It's the race to see if you can get file number 06-1. I started 2005 with file number GV05-1 around here; I probably can do it again. Though, one court's going to be harder to file in than others - a bit further away.) and trying to wrap up a few that I really don't want to have to deal with after the calendar change. A few I will. Some, thankfully, I won't.

One of the biggest things I've learned this year is that people with multiple lawyers in series are bad news. It's not good news news when they tell you about them, it's bad news when you find out after the inks dry on the retainer, but it's worse when you find out a month later that there's been not one prior, but multiple priors. One, especially one from prior domicile jurisidiction, might be livable, but more than one isn't just a red flag, there's also sirens and loud bullhorns. Thankfully, not much skin was lost in learning this lesson, and the intake form got a few more questions on it.

I also met someone who dealt with a Nigerian scam. Yes. Yes. No. Odd. Yes. That's all I can say.

Thankfully, those are few and far between. One of the other things I hope are few and far between are the passing of people I know and respect. One such person passed this year, who, for the short time I knew him, he was an excellent and patient mentor. He is missed by his family, friends, and acquaintances, and I hope the lessons he taught me I will be able to pass on to some other unsuspecting young attorney.

Blogging in drips and drabs

2005-12-16T14:39:00.000-05:00

Back a few days ago (on my Birthday) I figured I'd try leaving the "create new post" window open in a tab in Firefox. The result of which: two posts. I was thinking of a third, but it disappeared before I could get the first word out.

Having, some time ago, talked to Robbo and John about this, it seems that solo practitioners (or, those that are part-solo) don't have a lot of time for blogging, but Legal Professors, in house Counsels (or a private and governmental nature), and those senior associate or above in large firms seem to have the time. Maybe it has to do with being my own secretary? If any other Solo/GPs are reading this - have you the time to blog consistently? (Other Attorneys welcome, too - professional curtesy, you know.)

For all that is Holy

2005-12-13T09:40:00.000-05:00

Why does my games computer have to fall victim to the CivIV bug?!?!?!

Not that I mind CivIII (and, it runs well on the laptop) but falling victim to the "Gee, there's no terrain at this level of zoom" bug means I have to spend nonexistant (or otherwise already allocated) dollars to bump up the system. Or get a new one, though the chances of that happening are slim.

Hello? Hello? Is this thing on?

2005-12-13T09:25:00.000-05:00

Yep, it's time I updated this thing. Thus, on the 32nd anniversary of things, I'll do so.

What happened to November? Everything was going along fine until... Well, life is a comedy, or at least sometimes a comedy of errors. More or less, this was November. First, I fiannly decided to do something I'd put off far too long: extract a broken wisdom tooth. I went to an excellent oral surgeon, who had the thing out in short work, not too much pain. Except - I spent more time at the dentist's trying to recover from the nitrous oxide and novicane than it took to have the bloody tooth out in the first place. I'm glad the drive from the dentist to home was a straight shot, because I was not up to lane changes. Vicodin was good, though I managed to wean myself to Tylenol after about 36 hours (This from someone who takes one-quarter doses of Nyquil to sleep only 8 hours.). However, I had a week's worth of antibiotics to take. Which lasted exactly six days - until I broke out in an allergic reaction. So, stop the antibiotic, start the Benedryl. Thankfully, I didn't need more than a few days of Benedryl to get the antibiotics out of my system (I took an early Thanksgiving trip, itching through the whole thing would not have been good, by a long shot.)

That puts me to Thanksgiving: cramming a week's worth of work in two days, since nothing really "went to plan". Which was fine, in the Grand Scheme of Things, except for the few cases where the Clients think they are The Only Client I have, and can't make up their minds whether they want stuff Now, Tomorrow, or Three Days Ago. No matter which one they want, if it's in another firm's hands, or with the Clerk of the Court, it doesn't matter when they want it, since I don't have any control over that. Now, if any of these were paying for the priviledge of being The Only Client, I wouldn't mind. But, they aren't, so, they aren't.

Memes, Quizzes, Whatever

2005-11-01T21:42:00.000-05:00

First, a not so silent thank you:

Whether you harbor some vestige of modernist
morality or simply fail to see the irony in
Reality TV, one thing is clear. You are just
Not Postmodern.

What kind of postmodernist are you!?
brought to you by Quizilla

This I'm not sure a get. Tell me why this is a bad thing?

You are Leviticus.

Which book of the Bible are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

And now, the Memes:

~~Eats peanut butter at least once a week.~~ I can't remember the last time I had peanut butter. Sad, yes, especially since I have both varieties at home.

Prefers smooth peanut butter over chunky. Meh. Call it a wash.

Can name all Three Stooges. And vague recollection of lineage. Good lantsmen, all.

Lives within a 20-minute drive of a Wal-Mart. I live in NoVa. The answer to this depends on day of week, time of day, whether the moon is in the third quadrant....

Eats at McDonald's at least once a year. Granted, I live near one, and worked near one - well, did, before they shut it down for all the unpaying "customers" frequenting it.

~~Takes a shower for approximately 10.4 minutes a day.~~ usually a little shorter.

Never sings in the shower.

Lives in a ~~house, not an apartment or~~ condominium.

Has a home valued between $100,000 and $300,000.

Has fired a gun.

Is between 5 feet and 6 feet tall.

Weighs 135 to 205 pounds.

Is between the ages of 18 and 53.

Believes gambling is an acceptable entertainment option. Depends on the subject.

Grew up within 50 miles of current home. Not even close.

Updates and cobweb-cleaning

2005-10-27T12:23:00.000-04:00

Updated (partially) the blogroll - if you're not on it, leave a comment as a reminder; I got a couple things going on that suck up time like dry sponges.

Added TTLB Ecosystem (such wonders for the ego) and Sitemeter (finally. And more wonders for the ego. 2? Sheesh. I bet both of 'em were from when I was poking it with a stick, asking "is this thing on yet?")

Miers Nomination and Withdrawal

2005-10-27T10:46:00.000-04:00

I haven't had much to say about the nomination, and her withdrawal from consideration this morning - among my immediate concerns is the Virginia Supreme Court, not the SCOTUS. (Though, yes, I know how they interrelate. It's just none of my cases are SCOTUS-material, at least not unless there's a 100% catastrophic chance.)

In any event, I now take this time to propose for nomination my mentor, the Honorable R.T.S. Colby, ret. I'll let the following proclamation speak for itself:

RESOLUTION NO. 1592

WHEREAS, Alexandria General District Court Judge Robert T. S. Colby has served as a judge in the City of Alexandria for 24 years; and

WHEREAS, he was raised in Jamaica, New York, graduated from Georgetown University Law School in 1951, and served in the Army in Korea; and

WHEREAS, he worked in the U.S. Attorney's Office in Alexandria, and then in his father's law firm before he went on the bench; and

WHEREAS, during his tenure as judge in Alexandria, he has heard almost 700,000 cases; and

WHEREAS, during his 24 years as a judge he worked hard to see that citizens and defendants were treated equitably and fairly; and

WHEREAS, the Alexandria City Council wishes to recognize him for his many years of service to the City and its citizens;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Alexandria City Council hereby expresses its appreciation to Alexandria General District Court Judge Robert T. S. Colby for his many years of devoted service and extends its best wishes to him upon his retirement.

As for his Judicial philosophy, it can best be summed up in one word: Unique.

BAM!

2005-10-25T00:09:00.000-04:00

Which Food Network chef are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Arrrrrooooooooooooooooo

2005-10-25T00:05:00.000-04:00

A little silliness at the end of a long day.

You scored as Alpha Wolf. You are an ALPHA WOLF. You stand tall and are recognized by your followers. You are the leader, dominant, strong and intelligent. You are in charge and make sure that it is known. Despite the way you show your emotions towards others, you really do care for your pack.

Alpha Wolf

92%

Beta Wolf

75%

Gamma Wolf

75%

Omega Wolf

25%

Where do you rank in the Wolf Pack?
created with QuizFarm.com

2005-10-20T23:10:00.000-04:00

King Edward I
You scored 70 Wisdom, 65 Tactics, 55 Guts, and 58 Ruthlessness!

Or rather, King Edward the Longshanks if you've seen Braveheart. You,
like Edward, are incredibly smart and shrewd, but you win at any
costs.... William Wallace died at his hands after a fierce Scottish
rebellion against his reign. Despite his reputation though, Longshanks
had the best interests of his people at heart. But God help you if you
got on his bad side.

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:

You scored higher than 75% on Unorthodox
You scored higher than 40% on Tactics
You scored higher than 50% on Guts
You scored higher than 81% on Ruthlessness

Link: The Which Historic General Are You Test written by dasnyds on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

Blogger Gathering

2005-10-17T12:56:00.000-04:00

Well, well. I am very pleased to report that a group of bloggers can meet in a public place without spiking the Dork-O-Meter into the red zone.

-Robbo the Llama

Absolutely true. Though, we were just this shy of having a quorum to hold a Bar Association event - and it occurred to noone to break out a Player's Handbook. (Though, the kids at the next table over did break out, spontaneously, into Dayeinu, though I think I was the only one there that knew it. Odd - they were off by, what, 5, 6 months? Kids - it's just after Yom Kippur, not Pesach. Gevalt.) However, the Flying Spagetti Monster was discussed, and resoundingly approved! I also learned the secret of Attorney-Blogging: staff. Staff is critical; that, and a job that doesn't require 6-day-a-week attendance. But, it'll all be better for it at the end - at least, that's what I keep telling myself. Someday, maybe soon, I will be able to afford to hire myself. Then I can start looking for Staff.

Anyways, back to the Blogger event. Present were JohnL from TexasBestGrok, the above-mentioned Rob from Llama Butchers, the Maximum Leader from Naked Villainy, Princess Cat from A Swift Kick and a Band-Aid (escorted by her blog-less friend Matt), Buckethead from The Ministry of Minor Perfidy, Ted from Rocket Jones, Dawn from Caterwauling, and myself, of course. Well, given the state of posting around here, "of course" may be a bit presumptuous, but I was there nonetheless.

To answer Buckethead's question: yes. Though, I had forgotten about Mr. Spooner. The General, I had not. On the gripping hand, it wasn't the ancient Spartan that attracted my attention as more than an interesting historical name and figure. Though, never did like the nickname given there.

The conversation and company was great, and any time there is another get-together, formal or not, it'd be a pleasure to go.

Edit:
Mu.Nu must not like me. Or maybe my Firefox Settings don't like Mu.Nu. Either way, I'll try later on to set the trackbacks for everyone. An exception: The Maximum Leader's trackback worked just fine (as if differently was expected?).

DC Meet Up

2005-10-14T17:30:00.000-04:00

A post! A post! Gevalt, there's a post!

There's a meeting of some of the Blogging Elite, that just happens to be a stone's throw from the office. Maybe, just maybe (100% chance) I'll be able to slip these shackles and get out of the office tomorrow and head over there. It's not like I'm not going to be in the office trying to get shit done.
Heh. Should see if there's still film in the camera; it'll be interesting I think.

London under Siege

2005-07-07T12:06:00.000-04:00

My condolances to the British who have lost friends and loved ones today. Never forget.

Nu?

2005-06-28T13:08:00.000-04:00

Best use for a Mac Classic I've seen

2005-06-27T19:43:00.000-04:00

This has got to be the best use of a Mac carcass I have ever seen. Truly Classic!

More Theology through Quizzes

2005-06-27T11:51:00.000-04:00

Like JohnL, my rankings changed slightly - now I'm listed as Reformed above Sikh. Which is partially true.

I'm not as concerned at #4 than I thought I would be. From the standpoint of "Who The Big Guy" is - or at least, who #4 overtly states The Big Guy to be - I don't have a problem. That they want me dead, and behead innocents - I have a problem.

1. Reform Judaism (100%)
2. Sikhism (99%)
3. Orthodox Judaism (92%)
4. Islam (84%)
5. Bahi'i Faith (82%)
6. Liberal Quakers (67%)
7. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (60%)
8. Unitarian Universalism (59%)
9. Jainism (58%)
10. Hinduism (53%)
11. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (53%)
12. Orthodox Quaker (51%)
13. Neo-Pagan (50%)
14. Jehovah's Witness (47%)
15. Mahayana Buddhism (46%)
16. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (43%)
17. Eastern Orthodox (41%)
18. Roman Catholic (41%)
19. Seventh Day Adventist (39%)
20. Scientology (38%)
21. New Age (36%)
22. New Thought (35%)
23. Theravada Buddhism (34%)
24. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (28%)
25. Secular Humanism (21%)
26. Taoism (17%)
27. Nontheist (10%)

Better Theology through Quizzes

2005-06-20T16:49:00.000-04:00

Sure, why not. One of these days I'm gonna have to ask JohnL and Beldar (and any other Learned Colleagues out there) how they handle Blogging and practicing. But, until such time... yet another quiz.

I was not, however, overly surprised by the result:

You scored as Judaism. Your views are closest to those of Judaism. If you are not a Jew, do more research on Judaism and possibly consider becoming one; however, realize that conversion to Judaism is difficult.

Judaism was the first of the Abrahamic faiths; it precedes both Christianity and Islam.

Judaism

88%

Islam

71%

Buddhism

46%

agnosticism

38%

Paganism

29%

Satanism

29%

Christianity

17%

atheism

Hinduism

Which religion is the right one for you? (new version)
created with QuizFarm.com

Theology, Poll-Style

2005-06-20T10:13:00.000-04:00

JohnL is right, if "you don't believe in the Baby Jesus" this poll really doesn't mean much at all. A lot of my answers were midline "neither agree nor disagree" simply because they don't have anything to do with, well, anything that's important. Or so I say. In any event, here are my results:

You scored as Classical Liberal. You are a classical liberal. You are sceptical about much of the historicity of the Bible, and the most important thing Jesus has done is to set us a good moral example that we are to follow. Doctrines like the trinity and the incarnation are speculative and not really important, and in the face of science and philosophy the surest way we can be certain about God is by our inner awareness of him. Discipleship is expressed by good moral behaviour, but inward religious feeling is most important.

Classical Liberal

79%

Emergent/Postmodern

71%

Modern Liberal

61%

Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan

54%

Roman Catholic

46%

Neo orthodox

39%

Reformed Evangelical

32%

Fundamentalist

18%

Charismatic/Pentecostal

18%

What's your theological worldview?
created with QuizFarm.com

Not bad, I'd say.

Repeat that again?

2005-06-02T00:02:00.000-04:00

Etruscan (1000 B.C.E)
You are ETRUSCAN. Ancestor of Greek and Latin
alphabets, you are tauntingly familiar and yet
distant. Scholars can guess at your meaning,
but no one really knows for sure. You could
contain the secret of eternal life -- or a
really naughty story. Or both. Who knows?

Which Indecipherable Script Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Blue. Fascinating.

2005-06-01T23:44:00.000-04:00

Your Lightsaber is Blue

Blue is often associated with depth and stability.
It symbolizes trust, loyalty, wisdom,
confidence, and truth.

What Colored Lightsaber Would You Have?
brought to you by Quizilla

'Tis a silly place indeed!

2005-06-01T10:19:00.000-04:00

Direct from the wooly minds of the Llamas, through Texas, I now present:
(Ah, rules. Yes.
1. Take the lyrics to a favorite song.
2. Go to Babelfish, translate the lyrics into German, then from German to French, and finally from French back into English.
3. Post the results verbatim.
4. Invite friends to guess the song based on the interesting new lyrics.)

I wanted to be... Holzfaeller!

Tree with the tree to jump, as they swim to the bottom the powerful rivers of British Columbia. Enormous red wood. The larch. The Spot! Scots Kiefer powerful! The convex cherry flowering! Plucky small Apsen! With my best daughter, we would sing my side,! sing! sing!

I am Holzfaeller and myself am okay.
I sleep every night and myself works all during the day.

It is Holzfaeller and is to him okay.
It sleeps all the night and all the day works to him.

I crossed to the bottom of the trees.
I eat my lunch. I go to the toilet.
Wednesday I go shoppin ' and have of Scones gebutterte for tea.

It crosses to the bottom of the trees.
It eats its lunch. It goes to the toilet.
Wednesday it will buy and has of Scones gebutterte for tea.

It is Holzfaeller and is to him okay.
It sleeps all the night and all the day works to him.

I crossed to the bottom of the trees.
I jump and jump. I can actuate wild flowers.
I place at clothing of the women and hangs around in the personnel.

He crosses to the bottom of the trees.
He jumps and jumps. He can actuate wild flowers.
He places at clothing of the women and hangs around in the personnel? !

He is Holzfaeller and is to him okay.
He sleeps all the night and all the day works to him.

I crossed to the bottom of the trees.
I carry high heels, of Suspendies and Buestenhalter.
I wish that I become be expensive a dad girlie, right that my.

It crosses to the bottom of the trees.
It carries high heels, of Suspendies and Buestenhalter? !

What is this one? A girlie would like to be? ! OH -, my! And I thought that you were so abrupt! Poofter!...

It is Holzfaeller and is to him okay.
It sleeps all the night and all the day works to him.

It is Holzfaeller and is to him okaaaaay.
It sleeps all the night and all the day works to him.

OK, it's a bit obvious, but somewhere it looks like Yoda got into the mix: "A girlie would like to be?!"

Revenge of the Copy-Editor

2005-05-31T10:30:00.000-04:00

(Originally, this was going to be a comment here, but then I heard, in an Alec Guinness-like way, JohnL's voice saying "Post, Dammit" - well, need I say any more? Oh, Here's your May post, for all three? four? of my Loyal Readers.)
-----------------------

I must preface this by saying I have not yet seen Revenge of the Sith. Or, in a way, I have; I've read all the reviews on all the blogs I read, and have gotten choice bits from my Inside Source (in relation to movie theaters, not Lucas or Hollywood).

Lucas must have misread Shakespeare - he clearly said "Kill all the Lawyers" not Editors, Proof-readers, beta-testers, test-screeners, and people who could turn and say "George, just because you have more money than Scrooge McDuck, doesn't mean you should throw this shit onto the theater screen and see what sticks. There's more plot holes than Mack (or Volvo) has trucks to fill, much less drive through!" Now, while that's good for JohnL and myself (by the way, how do you balance Practicing and Blogging?), that's really got to suck for Jeff. George - you should have hired him!

I've heard Sith declared better than its two predecessors, singly or combined. However, if that's the standard, bring back The Star Wars Holiday Special! At the very least, we'd have Luke, Han, and Chewbacca. And bad singing. But it didn't have Ewoks, dammit! The political polemics aside - after all, somewhere I'd read that the first Star Wars was supposed to be about Viet Nam (with Luke as a VC or NVA, one of 'em) but it certainly ended up looking like the American Revolution - the movie is astoundingly bad. Not only do we know that Lucas can't write (Go back and look at the writing credits: the original lists only Lucas, as does Menace, Clones, and Sith, but Empire and Return have additional writers. Tell me again which is the best movie?) but he hasn't the good sense to hire someone who can.

Unfortunately, now that I have the build up, the meat will have to wait; clients approach.

Blogger Interviews

2005-04-28T10:10:00.000-04:00

I've been commenting on Blogs a lot longer than I've had my own. So, when the opportunity to give a Blog interview came via TexasBestGrok, I jumped at it. Then I realized there might not be enough here to give enough questions, but here they are:

-Post Under Construction-
(I thought it best to put something up, then tweak as needed, than leave a long gap between question and answer)

1. How did you come up with your nickname (Lysander)?
I'm a bit of a history buff; in my reading I'd run into Lysander of Sparta. There's a bit of interesting history there, not entirely choices I would have made in a similar situation, but, I could see where he was going - he wanted to be one of the two Kings of Sparta, and wasn't going to let problems of his birth stand in his way.

I liked the name, so it somehow became a standard fallback when tossing 3d6 and not having a name ready.

2. Based on your blog name and one of your early posts, you would appear to reside in or around Alexandria, Virginia. What's your favorite place to grab a dinner and drink in Old Town? What's the signature dinner/drink there?
What day of the week is it? (E.g. today's lunch is probably Thai Curry with Chicken from Old Town Thai. Good stuff, and yes, not exactly Kosher l'Pesach, but there's rice, and today I'm claiming to be Sephardi, rather than the usual Ashkenazi. Nu?)

3. Why did you decide to start blogging? Who (if anyone) inspired you to start blogging? Which blogs do you read on a daily (or at least regular) basis?
Inspiration? Allah. Seriously - Allahpundit was the first stop of the day. Now, I'm no Allah - no photoshop skills, for one - but I had (then) time to kill, and thought I might be able to at least rant a bit. Then The Munificent Creator of Photoshops packed up for a long holiday, a sad day in the Blogosphere.

In about October '04 I decided it was something I really could do. But, given the time, new blogs were coming out of the woodwork faster than Dan could produce forgeries - and I decided to hold off. I wasn't trying to create an election blog, though I missed out on joining BlogsforBush.

Who do I read? In what started as an order, then became a laundry list: LGF, INDC Journal, Shape of Days, Llamabutchers, Wizbang, TexasBestGrok, Little Miss Attila, Pillage Idiot, BeldarBlog, Legal XXX, (there's more here, so check back)

4. What single rule change would you make, if you could, to make NFL football more exciting?
For watching the games live - axe some of the time outs. They work for TV (and yes, there's the whole "TV time-out" thing going.) But when you're actually at the game, it's bloody annoying to know that if the actual clock is getting close to a ten-minute mark, or the end of a half-hour, there's *going* to be a break. They're going to stop play. If they players really need the break the TV time-outs give, give each team more regular time-outs, and play through. If something spectacular happens while you're watching a commercial, that's what the highlight reels are for, or try to watch a game live.

5. Ardala or Deering? Ginger or Marianne? Eowyn or Arwen?
Yes.

OK, OK, Making a choice. ... yes? OH - seriously make one? Deering, Marianne, Arwen.

6. Do you have a hobby that is really important to you? Please tell us about it - how you got into it, how long you've been practicing it, what makes it important, etc.
Gonna have to wait on this, work to do

Word to the Lemmings

2005-04-18T13:12:00.000-04:00

OK, so that includes me., Commissar, Wizbang, and others I haven't yet mentioned. The cliff may be in sight, but the company's good!

HTTP in tha House

lyrics by: http://lysander.blogspot.com

html january a li
left padding px margin footer flea
blogblog com scribe divider
body p ok glider
h dl class
color rgb text align center amass
on the bandwagon
auto background url wen

hidden name ie
line height em margin see
p class post footer posted
action a toasted
sidebar title about me
commenting and ski
em font
postid title email post vermont

LYSANDER DOT BLOGSPOT DOT COM IN THA HOUSE
LYSANDER DOT BLOGSPOT DOT COM IN THA HOUSE
LYSANDER DOT BLOGSPOT DOT COM IN THA HOUSE
LYSANDER DOT BLOGSPOT DOT COM

2005-04-15T19:20:00.000-04:00

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

Blog Battles

2005-04-15T10:42:00.000-04:00

OK, so I rarely post. Not my fault that it's gotten busier here than a one-legged man at an ass-kicking contest.

Anways, Blog Battles. Found via TexasBestGrok, so, of course I had to try it. And, what does it make me?

Cool.

Or, as Captain Tenneal would say "Get it on!"

What's wrong with this picture:

2005-01-18T10:37:00.000-05:00

Current Conditions for Alexandria, VA (22304)
Fair
18°F
Feels Like
1°F

Driving Distances

2005-01-13T15:00:00.000-05:00

If the Llamas can two-fer, why not?

Where I grew up:
Total Est. Time: 15 hours, 32 minutes Total Est. Distance: 973.07 miles

Where I was born:
Total Est. Time: 7 hours, 31 minutes Total Est. Distance: 449.29 miles

Ironically, its the same highway - different directions.

Why do this at all?

2005-01-13T10:30:00.000-05:00

It’s a fair question – why blog? Not only why blog, why blog now? The election’s over (possibly including the Washington State Governor’s race, but who knows?) the New Year’s begun, and some of the Blogging vanguard is settling into retirement. Allah is on extreme hiatus, the Commissar has threatened to put the “On Vacation” sign up, and others have considered their tenure.

So, why do it?

For one, it gives me a chance to comment outside of the comment sections of other people’s blogs (and chew up their bandwith – you’re welcome) and to do a bit of ruminating on the side. Besides, with this timing, I can’t be considered to be clawing at the coat-tails of the election, even though it was in the pre-election days when I decided that I probably should get a blog going.

The Commissar, in this post, mentions fear as a motivator – fear of missing out on the bandwagon, fear of disappointing the readers, fear of losing said readers if he takes a vacation. Fear is a pretty powerful motivator, but only if you buy into what you are fearing. Do I want readers? Of course I know I have a few, built-in, readers, (and am extremely grateful for it) but I wouldn’t mind the blogosphere cruising through here every so often. But, this isn’t my primary occupation, nor do I want it to be. Other things come first.I know going into this that my chances of scooping something are in company of three: slim, fat, and a snowball’s in hell. I have no fear of not getting a scoop, because the only way I’d get a scoop is if I bought it, and I don’t have that kind of petty cash laying around.

What is my answer, why do this? The answer is a pure Yiddish shrug – nu, so, I’ll kvetch. Like it or not, here I can do it all I want without comment-hogging or worrying about being off-topic.