vik_thor: (Pen)
SANKOFA

Sankofa is an African word from the Akan tribe in Ghana. The literal translation of the word and the symbol is it is not taboo to fetch what is at risk of being left behind.”

The word is derived from the words:

  • SAN  (return)
  • KO  (go)
  • FA (look, seek and take)
from: https://www.berea.edu/centers/carter-g-woodson-center-for-interracial-education/the-power-of-sankofa

I have been into genealogy for awhile (off and on over the years.) I even started to try to start doing this as a GeneaBlog last year. 
In a mostly ON mood right now.

I have traced my family back 4 generations with confidence (Great-Great Grandparents) mostly born in the mid 1800s. and so far they have been in the southern Illinois / Indiana, and central Tennessee area (some outliers in Kentucky). I have found 1 who (definitely) participated in the US Civil War. Most of this generation were too young or old for Civil War service. (Though war of 1812 has some.)
The previous generation is a lot more sparse in knowledge and documentation, which considering the ones I have some documentation are early 1800s (and one couple 1790s). I will have to do trips to TN for some of them, and hope they have the documents. (FamilySearch.com lists when various counties started keeping various records.)

The one ancestor I am viewing as my main brick wall right now is my Paternal Great-Great-grandpa (Benjamin F. Rose). The only document I have of him is his marriage license to GGrandma Tabitha Green. It gives his parents, age, and where he was born, (between 21 and 23, born in White County IL). I have found his parents in marriage records for White County, married in 1854, I have not found any of them in census records. (The one that would have been the most likely, the
1890 Census, was destroyed...)
There has been some conflation with another Benjamin Franklin Rose in some online records, who lived and died in Effingham IL.

Husband, I've not gotten as far back, and have gotten to Italian and German ancestors at the Great-Great-grandparents level. So that will but a kink in tracking them down (Though I do follow a GeaneaBlog that talks about italian research quite a bit...)





 
vik_thor: (Pen)
last chance idol

This is a bit of a test.
Ink: Diamine Imperial Purple
Pen: TWSBI Eco
Paper: Field Notes "Pitch Black" Fourth printing
vik_thor: (DataMatrix)
President #45’s first official ‘press conference’, with hand picked reporters, still doesn’t go quite as he hoped. The first reporter went with their journalistic integrity, and actually asked a relevant question or at least attempted to before he shut them down, yelling “That is NOT an approved question! You are only supposed to ask questions from the preapproved list you were handed! You’re FIRED! NEXT!!!”

He points to another reporter, who stands, holds up a sheet of paper and says, “You mean these pabulum questions? We’ll be releasing them to the public so they know what you want to talk about, but…” tears the sheet in half and drops it to the ground. And the majority of the reporters in the room yell in unison “We want to know why you haven’t released your tax forms!”

45 gets red in the face. “Who cares! Old News! Noone wants that! You are all FIRED!!! One more chance!” Points to a man holding up his hand with a BREITBART sign in it. “Steve’s lackey, from Breitbart!”

“Mr. President, how do you feel about the rumours that there are neoNazi’s among your supporters?”

“Well now, even though that isn’t one of the officially worded questions, it is close enough. Remember in the future, when Breitbart is our OFFICIAL NEWS OUTLET! To ask the questions as they are written for you! Now obviously the Nazis are dead, we defeated them in that big war in the 40s! That my grandparents fought in! We killed them all dead! There are no more Nazis! Anyone who claims there are still Nazis around is a LYING LIAR! The Liberals want to make you think there are still Nazis around to keep you scared but they are all dead. Just like anyone who opposes us will end up being!” Pauses for a second. “After all, everyone dies sometime, right?” With a bit of a grin on his face.

Press Flack Spicer comes on stage, “NO MORE QUESTIONS! THIS INTERVIEW OVER! CLEAR THE ROOM!” As others among 45’s ‘loyal guard’ rush him back stage.

The official transcript is released the next day on Breitbart.com under header OFFICIAL NEWS OUTLET, without the last two sentences of 45’s rant. Lackey Conway says “Lord Trump never uttered those words that you think He did!”

Breitbart is DDOSed after instituting a NO COMMENTS policy on their ‘stories’, to be replaced by raw footage of the press conference, on a loop.
vik_thor: (DataMatrix)
Where am I from?
Well, there’s no generally accepted name for our multiversal cluster or universe, so I can’t go that general. Milky Way Galaxy, Orion’s Arm. Sol System. Sol-3 (Earth/Terra). North America. United States of America. Illinois.
Then it gets a bit complicated, sorta.
Born in McLeansboro, but don’t really remember anything before about 4yo, when we were living in Oakwood. Then moved to Cobden between 5th & 6th grades, because Dad transferred to a different region. (Illinois State Police.) So most of my formative schooling, that I remember, was in Cobden, and that is where I pretty much consider I grew up. I have no real ties left to Oakwood, as I didn’t keep in contact with the friends my age, and everyone I wa close to older than me has died. (A slightly odd fact: there is a linguistic/dialect border between central Illinois (Oakwood) and southern Illinois (McLeansboro and Cobden). So since I went between the two quite regularly, I have a bit bit of a mixed accent.)
After High School, I went to Southern Illinois University-Carbondale (only about 20 miles from Cobden).
After that, San Francisco for a year.
Then Kansas City for about a decade.
Back to central Illinois (Champaign/Urbana) for a couple of years.
Phoenix AZ for another decade or so.
Now in the Saint Louis Metro.

Or:
The Big Bang creation of our current universe, for some of the Hydrogen atoms in my body (probably?) Though some are also probably products of nuclear decay of heavier elements. All the rest of the atoms in my body are the product of various stars lifetimes of fusion and explosion, which coalesced into our current solar system.

Or:
European-American ancestry. With a bit of Native American mixed in. Can’t be more specific than that, as I’ve never done much research into my ancestors, though all 4 grandparents were born here in the USA.

Or:
A conscious speck of life this universe uses to observe itself
vik_thor: (DataMatrix)
Everyone expected the Trumpish Inquisition.

Nobody expected him to actually take the Presidency seriously. But after the first couple months he buckled down, made some key changes in his Cabinet, and became one of the best Presidents ever.

When Betsy DeVoss tried to get Christian Creation Science inserted into the curriculum of all schools nationwide, he uttered his famous phrase: “You’re FIRED.” on his first national TV address. In an act of surprising candor, he continued, “Truthfully, I was even more surprised than Hillary at my election. What I was really wanting to do was just expose how corrupt the system had gotten. I lost sight of that, and let it go to my head for awhile. I never expected the Senate to confirm all my Cabinet picks! I am submitting a new list of Cabinet Secretaries to the Senate as I speak. These Secretaries actually know the subject of their Cabinet posts, not in an adversarial way. As an example, my new pick for Secretary of Education is C.G.P. Grey.”

“I am also asking Congress to work on making gerrymandering obsolete.”
vik_thor: (DataMatrix)
Reporter: Mr. Gretsky, how can you explain your phenomenal increase in interceptions this season? You’ve gone from 4% successful interceptions last season (and less than 1% career wise, excluding this season) to over 90% this season.

Gretsky: Well, you see, I just changed my philosophy. Instead of skating to where the puck currently is, I’m skating to where it will be…

Reporter: But…?

Gretsky’s voice changes, becoming multivocalic. Most seem to be feminine, but there are several deeper voices, including a booming baritone that speaks just a little out of phase with the rest of the voices: WWhaAtT thTHeE MmOoRrTtAaLl sSeEzZ iIsS tTrRuUe as FAR as It goes. SORT OF he made a BARGAIN with US for the “GgIiFfTt” of FfOorRtTeElLiInNgG.

Gretsky’s eyes widen in fear, as his helmet pops off on it’s own, and his hair starts waving around like he’s touching a Tesla coil, and growing several feet.

Voices: HhEe wWaAnNtTeEdD to BE the BEST player EVER. WE just DIRECT him WHERE to GO. WwEe can DO the SAME for YOU. just CALL 800PoSSeSSioN, and WE will TAKE control OF YYOOUURR body.

The screen goes black for a second, and then a red skinned demon appears: And that is how the Fifth Age of Humanity ended, and the Second Age of Demons started. Tune in tomorrow for our celebration of the 500th anniversary of this breakthrough!
vik_thor: (DataMatrix)
Life always includes struggles:
once they are no more
there is always death.
vik_thor: (satyr)
A middle-aged satyr steps up to the microphone. His heavy horns emerge from his upper forehead, curling back and out, with the points at about jaw level, but a bit in front of his jaw. They are decorated with bright paint and colorful ribbons wrapped around, along with some beaded dangles. His long hair is dark brown, with three bright green patches, while his beard is a lighter brown and grey. He is wearing a brocade vest, patterned in leaves in multiple shades of green, and an electric blue leather kilt. His hooves tap on the wooden floor in front of the podium.


“Good evening. I believe introductions are in order. My name is Lirleni Hankeshe, and I am currently the primary fursona of the writer. He is currently feeling a bit under the weather, as well as mildly depressed about the election results yesterday in the United Species of America.” He pauses, takes a drink from a tankard sitting by the podium, and smacks his lips in satisfaction. “WONDERful cider you serve here! I may enjoy this job after all!”


“I have been authorized to answer any questions you may have about the writer. This will be his fourth attempt at this competition, and he is hoping to do better than in previous seasons, interacting with all of you more. He asked me to read you a list of his interests, but I think that would be boring, and possibly counter-productive. After all, he freely admits that in general he leads a fairly sedate life. Much of his free time is spent reading science fiction and fantasy, and enjoys exploring worlds that others have created.”

Malling

Jan. 22nd, 2016 06:59 pm
vik_thor: (cattaur)
I actually hung out at the mall in Carbondale quite a bit when I was in high school. Primarily at the WaldenBooks store. You would think I would try to get a job there, but for some reason I never did. The mall bookstore I got a job at was when I was living in Champaign, over 15 years after I graduated HS. I wish now I had tried getting job at WaldenBooks, because of the benefits of cheap books! :) My college job was working at the Lesar Law School Library, which is where my mild interest in the law came from.

Another store I would hang out quite a bit was an import store. I always liked looking at the stuff, but I very rarely bought anything.
vik_thor: (Pen)
One of the things that annoy me somewhat, are people who are all self-righteous about eating only chemical free food. Forgetting that everything in existence is chemicals, other than energy.
"Let's ban dihydrogen monoxide from the water system! 100% of people who have ingested dihidrogen monoxide will die!"
"Mercury in vaccines is responsible for autism!"

Now, obviously, there are some chemicals that are dangerous. But just because something is touted as organic doesn't mean it is harmless. Botulinum toxin for example. Yes, it is used medically (in fact, my mom used to have it injected into her vocal cords to help with her spasmodic dysphonia.) But it is the same chemical responsible for botulism.

Moderation in all things, including moderation. :)
We are all the result of huge nuclear bombs, but I wouldn't want one to go off right next to me.

Silkworm pupae as snack food. http://kuec.libsyn.com/episode-200-at-last-larva

The overemphasis on biocides, manufactured fertilizers, and huge monocultural farms is dangerous. And a lot of the monoculture of corn and soybeans goes to feeding cattle, which we eat to much of in general.

Twos!

Jan. 7th, 2016 09:36 pm
vik_thor: (Tom)
It may sounds odd for someone who is involved with Where's George? to say they really wouldn't mind if the $1 bill was discontinued, but truthfully, I wouldn't. Seph and I already use uncommon denominations to a very large extent already. He tends to pull his allowance from the bank as mostly $1 and 50¢ coins, whereas I tend to do $2 bills and $1 coins, with a smattering of 50¢.

One of the main arguments for discontinuing the $1 bill is the cost savings, since a coin would last significantly longer than the current average of just under 6 years for the $1 bill. After all, the US Mint hasn't produced the quarter with the eagle back since 1999, so the youngest is 17 years at this point, and they are still easy to find in circulation. Heck, even finding Bicentennial quarters isn't all that uncommon! Whereas any $1s earlier than 2009 series are becoming somewhat rare in circulation. (You can use the tables @ the US Paper Money site to figure out when your bills were actually printed. [that is NOT a Federal Government site!])

The only way for the official cutover to $1 coins to happen is going to have to be a cold turkey approach. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing is going to have to actually stop producing $1 bills and let the ones currently in circulation wear out. Other countries have switched over easily enough.
vik_thor: (Asgard)
Humans like to think we are Masters of the Universe, in control of everything, the top of the food chain. In fact, each one of us are just a thrown together hodgepodge of atoms, defined by DNA that has replicated innumerable times with occasional transcription errors. Of course that goes for every particle of life currently inhabiting Terra. From the most humble cold/herpes/HIV virii, through bacteria, cyanobacteria that blur the lines between plant and animal, fungi, plants, and animals as large as the blue whale.

Every one of us is the product of almost totally random chance. For humans, our fathers produced hundreds of millions of sperm cells in the ejaculation that produced us. Even if only 200 survived to our mother's egg cell, that is still 200 possible variations on us.

We may be one way the universe is aware of itself, but the fact is that in some ways our current bodies are basically jugaads. They work well enough to reproduce (usually) which is the main driving force of our DNA, but there are some design flaws. (Ask any woman who has given birth, or any man who has been hit in the balls…)
vik_thor: (Asgard)

I just finished reading Walking to Mercury, by Starhawk. I've had it since it was released, but I think this is the first time I have actually read it. Usually, if I've read a book before, I'll be able to remember scenes, plot, etc. But after about the first half of the book, it didn't seem familiar. It could be that I had read it, and just forgot it… because truthfully, it is a fairly forgettable book. It's the prequel to The Fifth Sacred Thing, and I'm reading it to refresh my memory of the world, because she recently Kickstarted the sequel, City of Refuge. I supported it, and should be receiving my dead tree edition soon.

I have sort of a HeadCanon, with Ecotopia by Ernest Callenbach, The Fifth Sacred Thing, and Always Coming Home by Ursula K. Le Guin all taking place in the same universe. The first two take place in the near future, while ACH is further off. (It's never specifically defined, because the Kesh view time differently than we do. But if feels like at least a thousand years.) While Mercury shares characters with Fifth, it takes place in the past, even from when it was written. In some ways, it feels like Starhawk was fulfilling a contract and just… sorta wrote it to do the contract. Part of that is probably because of how it is structured: letters from one character, journal entries from a second, and Maya, the main character remembering the events in those items as she reads them, while trekking through Nepal. If just feels a bit jury-rigged.

Of course, for most of us, life itself is a bit of a jury-rigged process. I'm not sure if I know anyone who has followed a plan for their life from when they were in high school or college, to adulthood and beyond. Jobs end unexpectedly. Friends and family die unexpectedly. We just pick up the pieces, put them together as best we can, and continue. Or maybe I'm in the minority? I had a vague idea of "what I wanted to be when I grew up." But that didn't work out, so I've just been sortof drifting, going with the flow.
vik_thor: (Dionysus)
"Dance, then, wherever you may be,
I am the Lord of the Dance, said he,
And I'll lead you all, where ever you may be,
And I'll lead you all in the Dance, said he."

--Sydney Carter

I am a follower of the Lord of the Dance. Not Yeshua, who this version of the song is putatively for, but rather Shiva Nataraja, Pan, Dionysus, Kernun. I have a hard time staying still when there is music playing. It can be as small as finger or foot tapping, to full out dancing where I can take over the entire dance floor.

I don't remember anything specifically dance related in my childhood or adolescence. The earliest dancing memory I have is of 'The Beauty and the Beast' dance that was held around Halloween. I had been coming out of my shell more and more over the past year, and my girlfriend and I were participating in the costume contest, as sorcerer and sorceress. It took me awhile to gather my courage up to actually get out on the dance floor, but once I did, I stayed there the rest of the night, only stopping to get something to drink, and to rest during the slow songs. The other school dances during my senior year went similarly. I had discovered my joy in dancing.

Dancing during college happened, mostly just me and my WalkMan. The only gay bar in town wasn't dance oriented.

The first time I really felt Nataraja was during my 18 months in San Francisco, after college graduation. I was involved with the Black Leather Wings tribe of the Radical Faeries. I was in a ritual when, the closest I can describe, i was possessed or ridden by Him. At that time, i felt … connected to the entire cycle of being.

"Around its center in an open gyre
earth turns, the day:
around the earth in an open gyre
moon turns, the month:
around the sun in an open gyre
earth turns, the year:
around its center in an open gyre
sun turns, the dance:
sun and the other stars in an open gyre
turn and return, the dance."
-- Ursula K. Le Guin, Always Coming Home "The Gyres" from the Fourth Section of Poems

I … have never felt quite that connection again. But i feel echoes when dancing by myself, just moving to the music, letting the music move me.

(My style of dance [if it can be called that] is entirely self taught. I move to the music, and thus each song can feel different, and have different movements. I do borrow heavily from Hindu dance that I've seen, but… I have never seen a video of myself dancing. I don't really want to, I'm afraid that if I do, I will feel too self-conscious to ever dance again.)
vik_thor: (Pen)
Trust Everyone, but Cut the Cards

I used to play cards quite a bit more than I do now. I would play UNO with family, Spades and Hearts with friends through college years, and Cribbage with my step-mom. I remember parents playing Pinochle with the neighbors, but that is a game I never learned. Occasionally I would play Solitaire (of some sort, since there are so many variations.)

Seph would play Solitaire quite a bit, and had several decks. I even bought him a couple, including one from The Devil's Panties. He has taken to playing several Solitaire games on Facebook lately.

I bought a Cribbage board a couple of years ago, to try to get us into playing, but we never did. And of course, with our current work schedules, we don't really get much time to play games together. Our main cooperative game now is bowling. I joined a local league back in fall of 2014, and we both joined it this year. He is looking to put together a web presence for the league again. (They used to have one, but it seems to have gone inactive sometime in 2013.)

I've occasionally tried doing meditation with Tarot cards. And even recently backed a new Tarot deck on IndieGoGo. However, I've never been very good at that. And obviously never tried doing any readings for anyone else.

Most of these decks can all be shuffled the normal way. With or without a cut at the end. However, I have played Cards Against Humanity a few times, with enough expansions that the deck can be up to 12" tall. For 'shuffling' that, I will just do lots and lots of cuts.
vik_thor: (Pen)
Well, I have decided to jump in on this miniseason of LJIdol. we shall see how it goes this time. :)
vik_thor: (panta and I)
Yum!
Barrel of crabs, all cooked perfectly, ready to share with a group, ready to collapse into a food coma.
Some melted butter, bucket for shells, some ears of corn thrown in also. Maybe some baked potatoes.

Om-Nom-Nom-Nom
vik_thor: (satyr)
Cashmere is hair, right? So what is so bad about Cashmere shirts? Angora and Mohair too. Heck the Wikipedia article even says that the original sackcloth was made out of goat hair. (different breed, but… :)

Goats are neat animals. We can get several products from them. Milk, meat, fiber (Cashmere & Mohair) and leather. They are smart and curious, and will eat kudzu. You would think that they would be in wider use wherever kudzu is taking over in the South.

One of the more interesting things about them in my opinion is their pupils. Of course, that article says that cattle, deer, horses and sheep also have horizontal pupils, it is just that goats usually have light colored irises, which lets them be more visible. If I ever get a farm, I want to raise goats, chickens and bees.

Pan is one of the few animalistic gods (other than the Egyptian pantheon, which I don't think has a goat god) that would be somewhat familiar to many christians. Of course, many of them equate him with their Satan, but then, they tend to think that any god other than YHWH/Christ is either nonexistent or evil.
vik_thor: (DataMatrix)
I quite like bowling. So does my husband Seph ([livejournal.com profile] javarod). Haven't done much of it lately, only partly due to the fact that Seph is pretty much on the opposite schedule from me these days. I work standard office hours, 0800–1700 Monday–Friday. He is now working overnight stocking @ WalMart, with his days off being Monday–Tuesday night and Tuesday–Wednesday night. So the times we get to see each other is quite a bit more limited that what it used to be. Plus, I do D&D with friends down at [livejournal.com profile] tygercowboy's house on Monday nights.

We've bought several Groupon's (and other deals) for bowling. And we use them, but we can't seem to get any others interested in it when we go. I've gone to local Furry bowling several times, and have fun, but that also isn't a regular event. (And it tends to be a party, where some bowling is done. Leading to lots of gutter-balls, especially for those who do it in fursuit.) Whereas I tend to focus more on the bowling, and party on the side… My overall average for the last few times I've gone has been around 170, and most of those have been with house balls. The last group bowl I was at, a fursuiter guttered every frame in a game.

What I need to do is find another bowling league. I was in a league back when I lived in KC, in the 90s. (great good gods, has it really been that long ago?) I bought a ball and even my own shoes. They ended up stolen out of my car one night, along with a nice chain-mail shirt. :Þ
Not really sure why I didn't try to find a league in Champaign IL, or Phoenix AZ, or here in Saint Louis MO yet… Actually, it would be a good idea for me to get back into regular league play… Went for a physical last week, and my Triglycerides came back high (237). The doctor wants me to start taking pravastatin, which I don't want to do. I'm the first to admit I am overweight, and need to get more active. This will probably be the kick I need to do it. You may remember I was riding my bike to work fairly regularly for a bit. The weather has prevented that a bit, along with the fact I really did not like a hill on the route. I may see about walking.

Anyway, we both enjoy bowling enough that we have recently bought balls and had them drilled to fit our fingers. That way we don't have to search among all the house balls to find ones that fit well enough. Mine is a 12 pound, opalescent blue. Seph's is the interesting one. He found a 10 pound Ed, Edd, and Eddy bowling ball on eBay. Got it cheap, less than $2 for the auction. The shipping bumped it up quite a bit, but still quite affordable for a bowling ball. We picked up bags at a local K-Mart that is closing. About the only other thing I need to get is a wrist brace, and I'll be good to go. (May eventually buy another pair of bowling shoes, but in general, I'm OK using house shoes.)
vik_thor: (DataMatrix)
I think I shall jump into this season of LJ Idol, in the Last Chance Idol cycle.

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