She's living next week now
you know she's gonna pay it back somehow
she hasn't been to bed in a week
she'll be dead soon, then she'll sleep
---U2, Last Night On Earth

[23:56] Dwip: And God damn all research papers anyway.
[23:57] Dwip: It's a bunch of shit I can already talk about for myself.
[23:57] Dwip: But no, I have to have done research so I can blather about what other people have done.
[00:04] Dwip: All we're saying, Internet, is give page loading a chance.
[00:22] Dwip: I AM A CSU STUDENT, YOU MOTHERFUCKING COMPUTER. GIVE ME MY MOTHERFUCKING ARTICLE YOU PIECE OF SHIT
[00:22] Samson: That's the Dwip I know!
[00:23] Dwip: *laugh*
[00:24] Dwip: I think I'll wear Dad's old RTS t-shirt to class. It'll make just the statement I want.
[00:24] Dwip: Duck holding this hammer over a computer. Yes.
[00:25] Dwip: Patience, my RTS. Yes.
[00:25] Samson: :)
[00:25] Dwip: These look really useful, too.
[00:26] Dwip: I guess I'll never know.
[00:26] Dwip: I bet I can do this fine at school.
[00:26] Dwip: DIE DIE DIE
[00:33] Dwip: Ok, look. Journal writers. From now on, you are forbidden from using words that nobody actually uses.
[00:33] Dwip: Also, if you write in sentences that actual humans might use, this would help.
[00:34] Dwip: And business publications? You are all unsalvagable. I suggest getting a nice warm bath going, get in, and slit your wrists.
[00:34] Dwip: Future generations will thank you.
[00:34] Samson: rofl
[00:35] Dwip: It's sort of a pet peeve of mine.
[00:41] Dwip: "Impact of End User Computing on the Individual: An Integrated Model"
[00:41] Dwip: Yeah, you people are all fired.
[00:44] Dwip: "Users' behaviour patterns in academic libraries' OPACs: a multivariate statistical analysis"
[00:45] Dwip: Apparently written by people In Greece, if the first names Daphne and Aphrodite are any clue.
[00:45] Samson: I thought torture was illegal? :P
[00:45] Dwip: Those are actually pretty humane.
[00:46] Dwip: I found one yesterday that was pretty much 12 pages of technical marketing jargon.
[00:46] Dwip: It was really awful.
[00:46] Samson: and what was the point of the paper again?
[00:47] Dwip: For that one, I had to talk about improving customer service culture in libraries.
[00:48] Dwip: For this one, I have to talk about patron needs and enhancing the library catalogue to meet same.
[00:49] Samson: Heh. And the boringness of it all doesn't bother you? Cause both of those sound like they'd put the rest of us to sleep :P
[00:50] Dwip: Actually they're kind of interesting when I don't need to write overwrought research papers on them.
[00:52] Dwip: "It is also particularly helpful in analyzing cross-tabular data in the form of numerical frequencies, and allows all associations amongst pairs of variables to be analyzed as well as each association between a variable and itself."
[00:52] Samson: *dies*
[00:55] Dwip: Netscape Navigator, guys?
[00:57] Dwip: In summary, it can be said that the quality of searches is directly dependent upon the user's experience and familiarity with the OPAC.
[00:57] Dwip: No fucking shit, Sherlock.

Because, and you may have noticed this previously, research papers inspire within me a certain level of incandescent rage at the process.

So, check this out. I've got a paper to write. Little 3 page thing, but I have to have ~6 journal sources, which means research.

3 times, I have done the necessary research. And each one of those times, somewhere in the middle of things, the power has gone out and I've lost all my notes. In this latest instance, it even somehow obliterated my saved notes for about four articles.

These are the only 3 times the power has gone out in months.

This should not be this hard.

I swear to you, BF2 is the most mod-unfriendly game I have ever seen in my life. I realize that much of this has to do with being concerned about cheating. However, this is ludicrous. Let's hear it for installs, I guess.

On the other hand, it's that much better than BFV in this regard, because BFV, well, it could be pretty bad.

However.

In any case, allow me to commend a book unto you, called Japan At War: An Oral History by Haruko Taya Cook and Theodore F. Cook, which is, yes, an oral history of Japan during World War II. I found it to be a phenomenal book, covering as it does everyone from soldiers to workers to wives to the elite. Japan, Okinawa, the south, Manchuria, Korea, all are covered by someone's story. It is not sympathetic to Japan, nor is it hostile. In the best historical tradition, it keeps a neutral note, and lets the people talk for themselves. Too, while covering the obvious topics (life at the front, life at home, the bomb, etc), it does not keep away from the hard topics - the brutality in China and towards prisoners (and to ordinary Japanese!), Unit 731, war crimes, and what have you.

It is also exceedingly well-written, both the narrative and the interviews. I felt the people were fairly represented (well represented, in fact). And they have some truly amazing stories to tell. I find, in general, stories from the war years pretty amazing, but these...

I've been looking for a book like this (something written from the other side's perspective) for years now, and this is exactly what I was looking for. More than what I was looking for. If you see it, read it.

Seen in my public libraries textbook:

"Most society members have been led to believe that life in society is a competetive struggle for existance and that material progress can be realized through technological and economic growth. Students of society, however, have identified a gradual paradagim shift away from these positions and a spreading pessimism. The futurist Alvin Toffler, for instance, contends that there is an assumption that moral, aesthetic, political, and environmental degredation will overwhelm society no matter the material or technological progress it enjoys."

Yeah, and you know what? When money is evil, we're gonna cavort with some fucking deer while our robot slaves grow us free food.

Yes, Halor conversation of old, we love you too.

Enjoy the bath in a normal way. Normally.
---Sousuke

Various and sundry changes abound.

1. The Rabbit Classic style is pretty much where it's going to be, bar an improved title graphic. I've made it about as readable as I can make it with this current setup without making it look horrific.

2. However, this is not to say that it won't change some more shortly. We're currently kicking around several ideas, among which are:

- Moving to Wordpress, which maybe has dropdowns and things.

- Moving to MT 3, which may or may not have anything at all but at least isn't dead.

- Creating a new archives page where a single link gets you to a page with all category/monthly links AND displays posts. If this method also sliced bread, we'd probably be there already.

3. All of the quotes now exist as posts, which means the old quotes page is gone, and you should all use the quotes archive category instead. Also, I've added all former blog quotes I could find at archive.org, which I unfortunately know is not all of them. Alas I have not kept better records. What this does mean for you in the future, however, is that every time I put a quote up top, it's going to archive.

4. There are various link changes. A couple of things got dropped, and some got added, including Suzanne's LJ, and Laurent's blog, both of which are highly overdue for linkage. Sorry y'all. In the future, should you all start blogs, I encourage you to tell me to link you, because I more than probably will. When left to my own devices, I am lazy.

5. The next large project is probably going to be post categorization. This is a large project, but should be well worth it. Right now there are two categories - Quotes, which has all the top quotes, and Main, which has all the actual content posts. What I'm going to do is add a number of subcategories to Main, including:

- Photography (for all my photoblogging)
- Trips (for all the Europe, etc trip blogs)
- Artwork (solely to showcase Suzanne's things, though I may combine this with photography)
- Marechalisms (just what it says, plus will replace the old .doc file and everything therein will be made a post)
- Humor (if somebody said it and it was funny)
- School (For all OSU/SCSU posts)
- Work (CC wai~)
- ROTD (For all the old ROTD posts)
- MUD (For all MUD stuff)
- Tonto (Not sure how much Tonto stuff there is, but)

Am unsure whether I want seperate D&D/BT/MWDA/Computer Gaming categories, or not.

Am also unsure if a generic Conversations category is appropriate.

Also some things (computer construction, deck blogging) that I'm not sure how to categorize.

Now, to you my readers, I ask if there are any categories you would like to see. I dig around a fair bit in my archives, but I know some of the rest of you do too, and are likely to have opinions. So state them by all means.

The astute observer will notice that, yes, we're rampantly under construction around here. In time, it is possible that we will see a new, improved blog, with things like search, categories, auto-archiving quotes, and themes like Whir has.

Unfortunately, rumors that it will also do your housework and walk the dog are lies. I'm about to go do dishes right now, in fact.

Suggestions, by the by, are welcome.

[22:21] Maelfactor: Omatase.
[22:21] serenadingwords: meaning?
[22:21] Maelfactor: Sa...
[22:21] TontoMarius: "I speak bizzare Japanese words so that nobody can understand me."
[22:22] TontoMarius: It's an imprecise translation, mind you.

Because the blog turns, as an MT blog, 4 today. Happy birthday, blog.

I say "as an MT blog," because I've been blogging, if not always on a blog, for far longer. I'm talking, of course, of that famous Tonto series of yore, Marius' Rants of the Day. These have always been available (mostly), from my Writings page. However, for this birthday, I decided to do a few site changes.

1. The Writings page is no more. In its place on the Things To Do list is a direct link to the Quotes page, which is all I've kept. The stories are no more, but I don't think anyone read them anyway.

2. Marius' Rants of the Day have been integrated into the blog proper, with dates as far back as September 2000. You can find the intro post here.

3. The link to Tonto Clan no longer links to a dead link. Instead, I've snagged Tonto_Regina's Eulogy For Tonto and linked to that.

4. The About Rabbits page is substantially changed and updated after being some years out of date.

5. There are a few other little site nav things, with maybe a few more to come. We'll see.

Let me talk for a moment about statistics type stuff. With this entry, we're at Post #597, with 1,795 comments, almost none of which are spam. In terms of entries per year, I've actually been declining each year - 89 in 2006 compared to 115 in 2005, 155 in 2004, and 184 in 2003. On the other hand, I think actual quality is as high now as its ever been. Most of my 2003 entries suck. 2004 was a great year, but that's because I was in England. On the other hand, 2005 and 2006 are fairly consistently amusing, with some really great things said by lots of people (most of whom were not me). Too, I did a lot of photoblogging in 2006, which I think has been a good addition.

So we find ourselves pleased.

But what you really came here for is the actual list of best posts, so with a nod to the 2005 version, let's begin:

*shrug* (Suzanne's Darth Fuzzy/Squirrel Alien poker artwork)

The Infallibility of Youth (Actually a link to Whir's blog. The famous Halor convo, which brought us so many catchphrases)

Cavort to the Music (Live) (My trip to PA)

Invasion of the Rabbit People (Sarah's origami rabbit and Suzanne's deerphin drawing)

Know Your Roots (A number of my best moments in photography)

Teh Funny (If WWII were an RTS... Not mine, but funny anyway)

Alas, Babylon and Proving the Point (Outtakes from my epic last Civ 3 game)

Ph34r! (My inner MT self revealed)

The Best of Marechalisms (Need I say more?)

Party Like It's 1995 (Because we'll always need good computer stories)

The Ravings Of Tired Rabbits (Suzanne's plots, revealed!)

Butt-Kicking, For Goodness! and Part II and Part III (All of my BG2 bloggage)

Today In History (My 10th anniversary of MUDing post)

Skills To Pay the Bills (The first work bloggage, and my first shave in years)

Your PA Calls Will Be Graded (Work humor)

Hard At Work (The infamous work play)

Where the Streets Have No Name (Cross-country trip bloggage)

Wide Awake In America and the Remixes (NYC trip bloggage)

In That Epic Struggle, Part One (D&D stories from old. There will be a Part II, I promise)

Mr. Rabbit's Neighborhood (Hamden photobloggage)

Blast From the Past (MUDing 11th anniversary and my written area retrospective)

Too, there were plenty more posts that could have made this list. Narrowing down was pretty hard, because, as I say, quality control around here has gotten way better. Some of that is me, but a lot of it is you guys. Thanks for stopping by. Thanks for reading. And thanks for saying so much funny shit for me to post.

Happy 4th, blog.

A few ponderances upon the events of yesterday:

- As Sarah was saying to me in the line for Little Shop of Horrors, Soviets make everything funnier. Which is why I have a mix CD here emblazoned with "In Soviet Russia, CD Plays You!"

- Little Shop of Horrors was surprisingly unbad. In spite of my passionate hatred of musicals, which are the spawn of Satan and must be destroyed, I actually unwound enough to enjoy the thing. Ph34r teh plant ones.

(I should now make Sarah watch Day of the Triffids. Except the movie totally sucked, so)

- We watched a lot of Full Metal Panic. Among other observations was this classic when Gauron showed up in his silver AS: "A long ponytail? Isn't that, like, unaerodynamic or something? Couldn't you catch it on a tree?"

- "No more J-pop tonight, please!" "What about Cowboy Bebop music?" "Oh, that's ok. It's real music."

- Once again, faithful readers, I was almost killed in traffic. By the usual suspect. Who I proceeded to rant at on the subject for five or so minutes. Were this a perfect world, I would now link you to the YouTube video of this rant, because it was a good rant, or at least good enough to leave Sarah holding on to a fence to keep from falling down laughing. Alas, this is not a perfect world.

- I am surprised that I still possess my coat, given the amount of "Your coat is really fuzzy! And warm!" comments I got. However, I am missing quite a lot of candy. Chocolate, as if that was a real surprise.

- A nod to the weather for being spectacularly awesome, though it was odd to be in shirtsleeves with snow still on the ground. Possibly related to that whole eclipse thing, the sunset last night was really spectacular. I'd haven taken pictures, but this needs to be something other than the "Me taking pictures out my window" blog.

- She's seen Alsherok. And come away alive. We are no longer safe. Abandon ship. Rabbits and squirrel aliens first.