CircleCount helps you better understand Google+

2013-05-21 14:56:33 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 15 +1s)

Commission for Cleo (in space). :)

2013-05-21 11:41:24 (33 comments, 1 reshares, 24 +1s)

There was a book, much like this, in my childhood. A very prized possession I no longer have in person, but always there in spirit.

If you're so inclined, share your favourite #ElephantJokes, by comment here, or in your own post.

Give yourself a moment of childish joy, and let the stress diminish, if only for that moment.

♥

2013-05-21 11:21:34 (23 comments, 1 reshares, 17 +1s)

My personal favourite:

Why do elephants paint their toes red?

To hide in cherry trees.

What's the loudest sound in the jungle?








Giraffes eating cherries.

#ElephantJokes

2013-05-21 11:20:05 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

And what, precisely, does a martini sound like?

#ElephantJokes

2013-05-21 11:19:16 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

Because #motifake.

#ElephantJokes

2013-05-21 08:23:42 (25 comments, 10 reshares, 53 +1s)

This one I post especially for the #FontAfficianados out there.

#ElephantJokes

2013-05-21 08:19:58 (1 comments, 1 reshares, 10 +1s)

And let's not discuss the state of the butter dish.

#ElephantJokes

2013-05-21 08:17:11 (7 comments, 0 reshares, 6 +1s)

#ElephantJokes

2013-05-21 08:17:27 (10 comments, 2 reshares, 14 +1s)

Based on posts and comments I've seen, especially from the US folk, I'm getting the feeling that some distractions, and/or levity, could be useful.

I tend to be rather bad at knowing how to "appropriately" handle emotional distress, and I often turn to jokes in such times.

Specifically, elephant jokes.

So, until y'all me to quit, or I get tired/distracted, I shall be posting elephant jokes.

Starting with my current favourite, the Periodic Table of Elephants.

Because science! And elephants!

Image source, and purchase location:
http://www.dsart.com/gallery/item/periodic-table-of-elephants
http://newdsart.blogspot.com/2012/08/periodic-table-of-elephants.html

#ElephantJokes

2013-05-21 07:18:19 (6 comments, 3 reshares, 12 +1s)

The Future of Our World... as told in a GIF

#GIFS   #cosmology   #science   #astrophysics   #Storytelling  

2013-05-21 07:02:01 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 6 +1s)

A Photograph With No Name 393
Buy a print here http://www.deviantart.com/print/32997934/

2013-05-21 02:23:18 (8 comments, 3 reshares, 9 +1s)

So, by all reports, things are not very pretty in #Oklahoma  right now.

Should you have a desire to help out beyond discussion, please consider donating/volunteering with the #RedCross .  Details can be found here:
http://www.redcross.org/ok/oklahoma-city

If there are other reputable charity organizations there helping out, feel free to hit them up as well, but please, do your research to avoid disaster scams.

Also, if you donate blood, the United Blood Services can always use your help.
http://www.unitedbloodservices.org/

Thank you.

2013-05-21 01:05:52 (34 comments, 1 reshares, 4 +1s)

Greatest film never made now has a documentary.

2013-05-20 19:42:15 (16 comments, 0 reshares, 19 +1s)

I had no idea unicorns are partially made of sporks, but I suppose it makes sense.

#unicornwednesday   #idowhatiwant  

2013-05-20 16:58:32 (7 comments, 8 reshares, 20 +1s)

This brief history of +BobbleFett's helmets may also be of interest.

Image sources:
http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/misc/TDH_Images/fett_helmet_history.png <--- Full size version
http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/f23/fett-helmet-history-24684/ <--- Original post

#BobaFett

2013-05-20 16:53:25 (3 comments, 13 reshares, 14 +1s)

I hear that it's +Brett Bjornsen's birthday today, which, by extension, means it's +BobbleFett's birthday too.

Happy birthday, +BobbleFett!

Image sources:
http://electronic0.deviantart.com/art/Boba-Fett-122668949
http://www.webdesignmash.com/2010/11/star-wars-boba-fett-in-artwork/

#BobaFett

2013-05-20 16:44:48 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

2013-05-20 14:46:19 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Second up, in our #reading  theme today, is the following blog serial, by +Ian Andrews.

http://antilight9.blogspot.com/2013/05/had-it-been-him-six-months-ago-he-would.html

This is the 4th installment in a story that combines a variety of themes in a dark end-of-days scenario.  It is not frequently updated, but is definitely, IMO, worth the wait in between updates.  You can jump in at any point, as it is written from the perspective of flashbacks from several of the main characters.  As of yet, you do not have to read all of the installments to enjoy the overall story, but it will help later for certain.

One thing I don't think I've discussed previously is how attached I am to this serial, as I've had the privilege of assisting with some of the story planning.  I'm very excited to see how it all plays out.

You can read the earlier entrieshere... more »

2013-05-20 14:17:36 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

Stories on Google+ | +Matthew Graybosch 

An intriguing prequel to the upcoming Without Bloodshed, where Naomi is only 21. This is already at Chapter 3. Naturally, you should go back and read the other chapters, too.

#sciencefiction   #fantasy   #storiesongoogleplus  

2013-05-20 07:45:30 (28 comments, 1 reshares, 11 +1s)

Thorium Energy In 5-Minutes
plus an hour and fifty five minutes of additional info if the first 5 minutes didn't convince you of the importance of this technology

This is probably the worst time of night to raise awareness on alternative energy thinking processes, but this is when insomniacs and grave-shift workers have the most time to ponder grand, far-reaching ideals... 

We need more people making noise about this to their legislators, and their friends, families, and neighbors.  

"we can either get started developing this technology now, or buy it from the Chinese in 20 years..."

#Thorium   #LFTR  

2013-05-20 04:53:19 (3 comments, 1 reshares, 13 +1s)

Pluto Discovery Telescope.

2013-05-20 04:49:21 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 7 +1s)

Best comment I've seen on an article in ages:
"Too straightforward, you'd need a pineapple cussing in Esperanto."
--wombat23

2013-05-20 04:07:06 (6 comments, 0 reshares, 17 +1s)

"Chase Your Dreams" by Nikki Smith, featuring figure skater Isabelle Rae Wells doing a spiral during an ice skating competition.  #art #iceskating #figureskating #artwork #fineart #fineartamerica  

2013-05-20 03:55:26 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

Really, all the blame for me encountering this video to post goes to +Simon W, who I'm sure won't mind.


#GoT

2013-05-20 03:20:22 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 11 +1s)

We call this one "The Monster." She's 42 inches long and composed of several diferent semi-precious gems  and stones.

Available through Etsy at https://www.etsy.com/listing/150383579/necklace-and-earring-set-composed-of  -- using the coupon code GPLUSPOLLS gets you 25% off.

2013-05-20 02:00:35 (2 comments, 2 reshares, 25 +1s)

#punday

2013-05-20 00:26:03 (24 comments, 0 reshares, 34 +1s)

I'm taking full ownership of the fact that +Kimberly Chapman called me a danger to non-sparkling things (or something something glitter something), +C. Corey Fisk considers me a danger to her colour palette (because pink is awesome, and infectious), and +Rugger Ducky said I am "terrifying".

I'm also swiping the gif from +Kimberly Chapman, because I'm adorable like that.

=<.<=

What? She posted it at me first!

=>.>=

So, what are you taking ownership of today?

2013-05-19 14:01:03 (17 comments, 8 reshares, 52 +1s)

2013-05-19 13:23:07 (25 comments, 1 reshares, 19 +1s)

+Sandra Berkshier:  One purple cupcake, with rainbow jimmies (as close as I can get without going to the store), and...

A cherry.

I won't be offended if you want me to try again, this took 30 minutes, with 15 of that wrestling the cats away from the supplies.

#MakingGoodOnPromises  

2013-05-19 10:18:00 (22 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

#TheScentOfBliss   Scent Review
Oort by ZOMG Smells

The Official Product Description Sez:
The Oort Cloud is, technically, still hypothetical—largely because it's hard to track a mass of small, fast, widely-scattered chunks in irregular orbits at a rough distance of one light year from the sun. The Oort is the home of long-period comets patrolling the functional limit of our solar system, marking the dusty line in space where solar gravity gives out and deep galactic wilderness begins.

Its scent is distilled from that arid frontier: tumbleweed, olibanum, smoky copal and kola nut husk.

The first whiff out of the bottle is undeniably out of this world - it's an unexpected combination of the incense sweetness and spice of dragonsblood oil, pitted against the smell of tall weeds, dry from a drought and growing from sand made burning hot by the sun,wi... more »

2013-05-19 09:59:49 (9 comments, 2 reshares, 12 +1s)

One little attempt to make glitter rainbows, combined with the photo editing tools available for G+ albums?  Endless acid trips, mang.

Some of the combinations I've tried have been eye-seeringly painful.  Unlike this one.

=>.>=

2013-05-19 08:44:14 (6 comments, 0 reshares, 18 +1s)

Saturn's egg moon Methone is made of fluff

Out among Saturn's menagerie of moons, a shiny white egg rests in a nest of ice crystals. Named Methone, this small, oval moon was seen in close-up for the first time last year by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. Methone is utterly unlike the other small balls of ice and rock that dot the solar system, which are deeply scarred by impacts. Instead it is smooth, with not a hill or pockmark in sight. Now astronomers may have a clue as to why: Methone is made of lightweight fluff.

In fact, this 5-kilometre-wide moon is one of a clutch of space eggs, all orbiting Saturn in the same region between the larger moons Mimas and Enceladus. None of its siblings have been imaged as closely as Methone, but from a distance two – Pallene and Aegaeon – appear to be fairly smooth as well.

Material at Methone's surface could beeve... more »

2013-05-19 07:47:30 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 10 +1s)

BORED OUT OF MY DAMN MIND. 

Have been informed that if I attempt to leave the house, I will be tied to the bed and left there. 

I could keep working on shop stuff, but it's about to kill my brain. Bored with sketching. (On my fourth or fifth of the afternoon.)

Can't fall asleep (tried) either. BOOO. Trying to read a bunch of PDF's, but focusing is proving to be challenging. 

This too sick to paint but not too sick to be awake thing SUCKS, y'all.

I'm gonna go sign and pack prints. Just re-listed the below painting on Etsy. Someone go buy it so I have something to pack up and keep me busy, please! 

https://www.etsy.com/listing/120645158/original-abstract-encaustic-painting?

:goes to pack prints up:

2013-05-19 07:41:50 (7 comments, 2 reshares, 15 +1s)

This is pretty well shot :)

2013-05-19 05:17:11 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 15 +1s)

Monkey on a Cat

I really liked this monkey sitting on a cat statue.  The canopy if fairly thick above so it doesn't have the best back drop for the colors but I didn't have much time to find a better angle.

#sooc   #monkeyfarm   #bali   #indonesia  

2013-05-19 04:55:09 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 23 +1s)

#elephants

2013-05-18 23:44:30 (3 comments, 1 reshares, 19 +1s)

Mr Darcy by Cats Creations Face Painting & Body Art
#Fashion #Dandy #bodypainting  

2013-05-18 20:56:22 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 26 +1s)

My latest and greatest tablet drawing

2013-05-18 20:34:42 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 7 +1s)

per +Allison Sekuler 

#Deceptagoat  

2013-05-18 20:01:52 (13 comments, 0 reshares, 21 +1s)

Some old stylie Glasgow buses join the parade for the Southside Festival this morning...

2013-05-18 08:19:30 (22 comments, 2 reshares, 11 +1s)

Many thanks to ErnBird from the Ehlers-Danlos National Foundation Support Board for creating the graphic!  Hope to get some awareness out there for my fellow zebras :)

(The familiar medical axiom is "When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras.”  Unfortunately for those of us with a rare disease, we need doctors to see a zebra sitting in front of them, even though that may not be what they'd expected to walk in through their office door.)  

More awareness among both doctors and laypeople would help a great deal -- you have no idea how many times a doctor has told me that I'm the first EDS patient they've seen, or that they haven't heard the name since they got a 30-minute presentation on it in medical school.  

The problem is that EDS isn't actually that rare -- they've probably had zebras sitting in that office chair before,but t... more »

2013-05-18 06:59:11 (34 comments, 0 reshares, 12 +1s)

Hey +Cod Codliness, guess who I saw at the supermarket?

Broccoli said to tell you "Hello!", and to let you know they've been thinking about you.  They'd love to get together for dinner sometime, so they can introduce you to their new significant other, Strawberry Marshmallow.

#TwoGreatTastesThatTasteGreatTogether

2013-05-18 05:10:17 (8 comments, 1 reshares, 9 +1s)

The upcoming prequel graphic novel presented by Guillermo del Toro and written by Travis Beacham.

2013-05-18 04:57:47 (7 comments, 0 reshares, 13 +1s)

If you’re planning on going to see Star Trek: Into Darkness this weekend, there’s a good chance that you’ll see a special 30-second-long trailer during the previews called “Support Exploration: We Must Go.”

NASA is a government agency and thus not allowed to advertise, so others decided to do it for them. The Aerospace Industries Association partnered with the Challenger Center for Space Science Education to rekindle public support for space exploration. Over 1,700 people donated to make it possible to run the ad in 50 cities across the United States before the latest installment of Star Trek. 

If you can’t make it out to the movies this weekend or your city isn’t one featuring the trailer, you can view it here: http://bit.ly/10KThrE

More info: http://bit.ly/11LkT6p

#gospace   #scienceeveryday  

Note: If you were wondering, yes,it is narrated b... more »

2013-05-18 00:25:15 (8 comments, 2 reshares, 20 +1s)

2013-05-17 10:18:11 (11 comments, 2 reshares, 20 +1s)

2013-05-17 10:05:41 (8 comments, 1 reshares, 6 +1s)

Choose your own font for Google+

I recommend people try the new G+ for a day or two before modifying it, because you often get used to changes quickly and grow to like them. Or at least not care so much. But, since everyone seems to be creating Stylish scripts to "fix" things they hate about the new interface, I decided to join in and provide a fix for something that's bugged me for a long time about G+: their choice of font. It's a sans-serif font called Roboto, with Arial as a fallback. I'm not sure if I'm seeing Roboto or Arial, but whichever it is, I don't like it. I find the character spacing too narrow, giving text a cramped look, and making it hard on my eyes.

So this script -- a one-liner, simply removes the specific font names, leaving it to whatever you have set as the Sans default in your browser. Mine is Verdana, which I like better, but... more »

2013-05-17 07:57:43 (7 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

where is the explore icon.. It is where I had all of the saved searches so i could look up everybody's name as I posted something.  I tried doing a search and couldn't find where to find the curators of each theme group.  HELP

2013-05-17 09:43:13 (6 comments, 2 reshares, 13 +1s)

I have to say, recent viewing has done Odd Things to my recommended viewing list.

This video is far better than the one promising to teach me how to eat garden snails (bleargh).

In other news, a mistake in math led me to try to create a 160gb tempdb. I'm really happy the partition it was on lacked the space and failed at 20gb.

Also, if anyone is familiar with diagnosing index issues even after rebuilds, or identifying when to be concerned over PAGEIOLATCH_SH and CXPACKET wait types, hit me up!
(Specifically, how to identify when it's procedural and when it's disk unhappiness.)

#Oopsie
#DataPorn

2013-05-17 05:26:13 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

May Theme-Thology Update

06/15/13  10:00 AM US Eastern: Theme-Thology Event!
ᴥ New Call for Authors for the second Theme-Thology. The topic will be revealed on that date. Sign-up will immediately follow the announcement. It is strongly suggested that you join the Theme-Thology community before the call goes out. Also, read this carefully:
https://plus.google.com/103407750015595312286/posts/XNrXFkqhLv1
ᴥ Theme-Thology: Invasion will close the submission process.
ᴥ Hangout on the Air with actual Theme-Thology authors! We will talk about the process of writing and our other projects.

Theme-thologist  +Timothy Hurley: 
ᴥ Shortstack, Timothy Hurley's collection of humorous short stories is due out in fall 2013 as ebook. Timothy is hard at work on stories and editing and blogs about it and other things athttp://thelu... more »