w00t w00t booyah

SNARK_MODE=ON

RENO, Nev. - A couple who authorities say were so obsessed with the Internet and video games that they left their babies starving and suffering other health problems have pleaded guilty to child neglect.

..

Michael Straw, 25, and Iana Straw, 23, pleaded guilty Friday to two counts each of child neglect. Each faces a maximum 12-year prison sentence.

Viloria said the Reno couple were too distracted by online video games, mainly the fantasy role-playing "Dungeons & Dragons" series, to give their children proper care.

"They had food; they just chose not to give it to their kids because they were too busy playing video games," Viloria told the Reno Gazette-Journal.

Police said hospital staff had to shave the head of the girl because her hair was matted with cat urine. The 10-pound girl also had a mouth infection, dry skin and severe dehydration.

Her brother had to be treated for starvation and a genital infection. His lack of muscle development caused him difficulty in walking, investigators said.

I had to bold part of that. They don't mention the pet(s) in the story.

Okay, you read that. Here. Have some schaudenfreude:

[Poll #1022545]

No, they don't have an LJ. but she certainly has something at MySpace. Oh look. Four cats. Wow.

Each of them needs a one-way ticket at least five hundred miles outside the country - and no way back unless they find a job and work their way back home. In opposite directions. I don't see an internet problem as much as a couple of children who missed the part about growing up.

And gee thanks, for taking two innocent kids (and the four cats) with you.

I know I have nearly native or native Japanese language people on my FL. Help me out. I'm stuck actually working this morning and have no time to puzzle this out:

http://blog.tsutaya.co.jp/momo-i/

I understand the entries are about AX - and they aren't complimentary. Curious, schadenfreude, take your pick. I wanna know.

I'm going to hold complete reviews of AX until tomorrow. That's only fair - con's still going on, but some of us have to work.

A couple of caveats - I got comp'ed in. I did not pay to attend. I did pay more to park than any other singular cost during the entire weekend. Seriously. More than food. More than anything in the dealer's room. Just to put a car someplace where it would not 1) get stolen, 2) towed, 3) worse.

Long Beach is a perfect venue for this con. The main room at the Westin for karaoke was nothing short of gorgeous. I spent most of the time I was there in karaoke, with one short foray into the main convention floor on Sunday.

That - was AWFUL.

I'll hold everything until tomorrow - but there's one thing I want to discuss.

I'm not going to go look at the weapons policy on the AX website. I want to ask this of the group at large.

How the hell do you 'peace-bond' a STICK?

Think about this a moment, and then try to get it to fit into the idea of peace-bonding props as a concept. It won't go.

The whole practice came about in an attempt to render props that could do damage, inert - you zip-tied the trigger of a gun so it could not be fired. You tied something to its holster so it could not be drawn.

But you never, ever could tie a bokken, a bo, a stave - those props could not be allowed on a convention floor. (The year I did Fanime, those props were returned to rooms, cars or the attendee left the con with them. Period.) Reason? The whole zip-tie thing is not to prove you got permission from the convention - that they knew you had the thing - it was to make certain you - or someone who took the prop FROM you - could not use it in a fashion incompatible with a large group of people.

And I saw zip-tied "sticks" of all kinds - with zips of all kinds of colors. Also, not kosher - anyone can go to Fry's and get zip-ties. A con that can issue armbands - seriously, they did - for staff to wear - can get their own flavor of zip-ties.

If they actually cared about the concept, of course. Instead of just doing it because - well - I don't know. I don't think anyone who was peace-bonding sticks was thinking either. I mean - what were you DOING, exactly?

The corker, though?

They had volunteers with these things staffing entry and egress points. This is outside the Dealer's Room - the only place I actually ventured outside the karaoke areas during the con.

To get to the Dealer's Room? You had to go past the Info Desk. The main entry point into the con. And then?

The lines to get into the Dealer's Room queued up through - DIRECTLY THOUGH - Artist's Alley.

No, this is not an opportunity to browse and schmooze or anything of the kind. If you could see anything of the artist's tables, it was the portions they were able to hang over 6' up. PACKED SOLID, it moved at the pace of the 405 in rush hour.

And this is how you got in.

There were volunteers inside the doors, outside the doors - and you had what looked like convention hall security checking badges.

NO AX RED VESTS ANYWHERE.

And the way in? NOT THE WAY OUT. The way out - was across the hall itself, and dumped you nearly in the loading docks, away from everywhere else.

The din was incredible, but then again - hello dealer's room, no surprise here - but looking up, I didn't see the large pavilions I'm used to seeing at an AX.

OH. They're going to Comic-Con. ALL OF THEM. INSTEAD. Got it.

What's left is small shops, distributors and the like. Of course, with a huge Borders across the street from the convention center, you'd better do something, yah? $10 manga went for $8, yahoo.

I had a short list, found the items and GOT OUT. AGAINST THE TIDE.

Seriously, I'd had enough - in less than half an hour - to go from accommodating to Bitch On Wheels LET ME OUT OF HERE NOW.

I gave myself a couple of hours afterward. Acoustic Karaoke Contest was absolutely the best part of the weekend - but I had a headache that would not leave the building, nothing helped, and instead of getting cranky and worse...went home at 8:30 PM.

Without a job, I really didn't have a thing to do.

More stuff tomorrow, once the con closes. Oh yes, there's more.

I'm going to hold complete reviews of AX until tomorrow. That's only fair - con's still going on, but some of us have to work.

A couple of caveats - I got comp'ed in. I did not pay to attend. I did pay more to park than any other singular cost during the entire weekend. Seriously. More than food. More than anything in the dealer's room. Just to put a car someplace where it would not 1) get stolen, 2) towed, 3) worse.

Long Beach is a perfect venue for this con. The main room at the Westin for karaoke was nothing short of gorgeous. I spent most of the time I was there in karaoke, with one short foray into the main convention floor on Sunday.

That - was AWFUL.

I'll hold everything until tomorrow - but there's one thing I want to discuss.

I'm not going to go look at the weapons policy on the AX website. I want to ask this of the group at large.

How the hell do you 'peace-bond' a STICK?

Think about this a moment, and then try to get it to fit into the idea of peace-bonding props as a concept. It won't go.

The whole practice came about in an attempt to render props that could do damage, inert - you zip-tied the trigger of a gun so it could not be fired. You tied something to its holster so it could not be drawn.

But you never, ever could tie a bokken, a bo, a stave - those props could not be allowed on a convention floor. (The year I did Fanime, those props were returned to rooms, cars or the attendee left the con with them. Period.) Reason? The whole zip-tie thing is not to prove you got permission from the convention - that they knew you had the thing - it was to make certain you - or someone who took the prop FROM you - could not use it in a fashion incompatible with a large group of people.

And I saw zip-tied "sticks" of all kinds - with zips of all kinds of colors. Also, not kosher - anyone can go to Fry's and get zip-ties. A con that can issue armbands - seriously, they did - for staff to wear - can get their own flavor of zip-ties.

If they actually cared about the concept, of course. Instead of just doing it because - well - I don't know. I don't think anyone who was peace-bonding sticks was thinking either. I mean - what were you DOING, exactly?

The corker, though?

They had volunteers with these things staffing entry and egress points. This is outside the Dealer's Room - the only place I actually ventured outside the karaoke areas during the con.

To get to the Dealer's Room? You had to go past the Info Desk. The main entry point into the con. And then?

The lines to get into the Dealer's Room queued up through - DIRECTLY THOUGH - Artist's Alley.

No, this is not an opportunity to browse and schmooze or anything of the kind. If you could see anything of the artist's tables, it was the portions they were able to hang over 6' up. PACKED SOLID, it moved at the pace of the 405 in rush hour.

And this is how you got in.

There were volunteers inside the doors, outside the doors - and you had what looked like convention hall security checking badges.

NO AX RED VESTS ANYWHERE.

And the way in? NOT THE WAY OUT. The way out - was across the hall itself, and dumped you nearly in the loading docks, away from everywhere else.

The din was incredible, but then again - hello dealer's room, no surprise here - but looking up, I didn't see the large pavilions I'm used to seeing at an AX.

OH. They're going to Comic-Con. ALL OF THEM. INSTEAD. Got it.

What's left is small shops, distributors and the like. Of course, with a huge Borders across the street from the convention center, you'd better do something, yah? $10 manga went for $8, yahoo.

I had a short list, found the items and GOT OUT. AGAINST THE TIDE.

Seriously, I'd had enough - in less than half an hour - to go from accommodating to Bitch On Wheels LET ME OUT OF HERE NOW.

I gave myself a couple of hours afterward. Acoustic Karaoke Contest was absolutely the best part of the weekend - but I had a headache that would not leave the building, nothing helped, and instead of getting cranky and worse...went home at 8:30 PM.

Without a job, I really didn't have a thing to do.

More stuff tomorrow, once the con closes. Oh yes, there's more.

In my family, two of my siblings have had kids. In Jim's, only one - his older brother.

And it's been a train wreck, start to finish.

BIL has children with two women - one he married, and one the courts determined became pregnant while he was unaware. (Long story.)

He divorced the one he married, and despises her.

He refused to acknowledge the children from the other woman (she had twins) until one of them developed cancer and he was contacted for bone marrow transplant reasons. By then, he had alienated the children born in wedlock - not hard to do when you despise their mother and you have to deal with custody issues, and you're a pompous asshole. (He is. He lost his LA privileges early on.)

He's married to a woman now with no kids of her own - and a fairly clear desire for a childfree life. From day one.

We begin to talk about having kids of our own, somehow the conversation always goes to BIL's children - the fact we just had a family reunion doesn't help.

And we have to explain. And explain. And explain. And explain. And explain.

There just is no graceful way to do it.

Jim adores these kids, and is quick to tell anyone who wants to listen all about them - but then we have to explain. And explain. And explain.

And there's just no way to do it without being somewhat feeling dirty afterward. Gods save me from anything related to divorces.

( We are SO MISERABLY SORRY... )

It's worth keeping. Eesh. I don't think they could have made a better clusterfuck of the situation if they had sat down, met and drawn up a plan. I mean - really.

( We are SO MISERABLY SORRY... )

It's worth keeping. Eesh. I don't think they could have made a better clusterfuck of the situation if they had sat down, met and drawn up a plan. I mean - really.

Yeah, yeah, I know. Journals dropping left, right and center because of - wait a moment. Stop. Think. THEN react, okay?

catrinella seems to have a handle on things, and in some key aspects, actually has gone out to test the waters on the whole 'journal deletion' issue.

But it doesn't come as any surprise to me. No? Come on - it's all over Google News - OH, but that was MYSPACE.

*facesmacks*

The attorney general sent a letter to MySpace on Tuesday requesting names from the Minnesota registry or those on other states' registries who have used Minnesota addresses.

"Due to the anonymous nature of the Internet, social networking sites such as MySpace.com provide sexual predators with unprecedented access to children," she said. "They're really con men using the Net to develop rapport with unsuspecting kids."

MySpace announced last week that it would assist officials in all 50 states and provide this information.

UH. I can see LiveJournal wouldn't want that kind of burden. That's manpower, money and liability for litigation from people who sue after LJ turns over their private information to law enforcement. (Not that they'd WIN, mind...but litigation is $$$.)

From a simple business perspective, LJ is simply getting out of the business while they can. MySpace is going to get hammered by this stuff - make no mistake about it.

What makes sense to me is to actually put some intelligence into the interests update - if you think some words are triggers, for fekking sake, BAN them.

There's plenty of reports on "false positives" - and I hope in the weeks to come, any found in this first round will be remediated properly.

In the meantime, keep reading, keep listening and watch your ass. Your OWN ass, mind.

There is little doubt that Falwell split Hell wide open the instant he died. The evidence is compelling, overwhelming, and irrefragable. To wit:

1. Falwell was a true Calvinistic Baptist when he was a young preacher in Springfield, Missouri, and sold his soul to Free-Willism (Arminianism) for lucre.

2. Falwell bitterly and viciously attacked WBC because of WBC's faithful Bible preaching -- thereby committing the unpardonable sin -- otherwise known as the sin against the Holy Ghost.

3. Falwell warmly praised Christ-rejecting Jews, pedophile-condoning Catholics, money-grubbing compromisers, practicing fags like Mel White, and backsliders like Billy Graham and Robert Schuler, etc. All for lucre -- making him guilty of their sins.

Irrefragable is a word?

UH.

I did say something about coming to your own conclusions and the opinions of your peers.

All I gotta add is what my mamma always told me - "If two shall gather in His name, they will fight."

WORD.

There is little doubt that Falwell split Hell wide open the instant he died. The evidence is compelling, overwhelming, and irrefragable. To wit:

1. Falwell was a true Calvinistic Baptist when he was a young preacher in Springfield, Missouri, and sold his soul to Free-Willism (Arminianism) for lucre.

2. Falwell bitterly and viciously attacked WBC because of WBC's faithful Bible preaching -- thereby committing the unpardonable sin -- otherwise known as the sin against the Holy Ghost.

3. Falwell warmly praised Christ-rejecting Jews, pedophile-condoning Catholics, money-grubbing compromisers, practicing fags like Mel White, and backsliders like Billy Graham and Robert Schuler, etc. All for lucre -- making him guilty of their sins.

Irrefragable is a word?

UH.

I did say something about coming to your own conclusions and the opinions of your peers.

All I gotta add is what my mamma always told me - "If two shall gather in His name, they will fight."

WORD.