An etherealgirl's Adventures in Cyberland

Friday, March 31, 2006

i guess i'm officially back

I've found a quiz result to post:

Where was your soul born?[pics + detailed answers]

Your soul was born in the Sky.You have a free soul and you hate to be tied down. You love a good challenge and you love to compete with your friends. You're very kind and open-minded. You accept anyone as longs as the person doesn't try to hold you down. You have a habit of bending and sometimes breaking rules, but you're very careful with stepping over lines. You might break some rules but you also have respect for them. You're element is Air. You're unpredictable and people can never figure out what you will do next. You're admirable and many people look up to you. You do you best to capture the day and make the most out of it. You're honest, but sometimes your honesty can hurt people. Remember that you're not boring just because you're serious sometimes. Sometimes you need to be serious to get respect from others. You can't joke everything away.

Take this quiz!

Quizilla | Join | Make A Quiz | More Quizzes | Grab Code

Posted by etherealfire :: 1:38 AM :: 3 Comments:

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Thursday, March 30, 2006

jill carroll freed

It's a awesome to wake up to some great news for a change; story here!

Posted by etherealfire :: 5:37 AM :: 0 Comments:

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Wednesday, March 29, 2006

when creating your own reality goes horribly wrong

Reporting the good news about Iraq; even if you have to do it from beautiful downtown Bakirkoy, Istanbul...

This meltdown in alternate reality caught and captured courtesy of Daily Kos, with additional glimpses of the madness found at Attytood, TPM and Jesus General.

Posted by etherealfire :: 1:31 PM :: 0 Comments:

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Monday, March 27, 2006

hidden persephone

Persephone is the goddess archetype that I have always related to the most. At this point in my life, I identify most with the Triple Goddess aspect in its entirety but because the 8th house plays such a pivotal role in my natal chart, I've found that all aspects of the Persephone/Demeter theme has resonated with me throughout my life.

So when I followed this link I was very curious to find out where the asteroid Persephone would wind up in my chart. I guess I was a bit surprised to find her in my 3rd house of communication and early life. But then again, maybe not:

Third House: we may be too timid to speak up for ourselves, and consequently let others do our talking for us

Obviously anyone who has a blog must at least be attempting to overcome some of that; but then again, that may be a big part of working that Persephone out.

My whole life I've been in love with words, with language, the very art of communication. I'm a frustrated writer and a terribly maudlin poet (no one ever sees it because it truly is bad, in the very most trite sense of the word).

I can taste words, smell them, feel them intensely. I love to sing words; lyrics have always meant as much to me as the beauty of a tune. I write in journals, on scrap paper, on the back of envelopes, any free potentially writable surface I can find.

Many is the morning I wake up still half asleep, but full of have baked conversations going on in my head. This, by the way, is an extremely aggravating problem and one of the reasons I thrive on shutting down regularly and giving in to those meditative moments... I simply have to find a way to shut myself up, even in my scattered head.

Maybe it makes sense that the thing that I love the most is the very thing that I have felt, many times in my life, the most completely inadequate at doing well. Natal charts often have patterns that repeat the same themes, and one hint at confirmation of this well-placed Persephone is the location of my natal Saturn conjunct Mercury ~ right on my Midheaven ~ 10th House of Career/Public Life. Saturn can't help but try to put a lid on Mercury's motor mouth (especially early in life) and without question there has been a very good reason for it. Saturn conjunct Mercury is an invitation to learn to speak wisely and discerningly. While I hardly think I'm there yet, I think maybe I'm beginning to get there at this late date in my life; at least, enough to consider this aspect a gift of a lesson for one who might otherwise potential abuse, or misuse those words I obsessively/compulsively love so very much.

As I thought back to my early childhood, it struck me that this Gemini Persephone of mine forms a fairly close conjunction with my maternal grandmother's Gemini Sun. She was an incredible woman, and without doubt, one of the earliest inspirations to my love of words. She was witty, and clever; she was a great storyteller and a wonderful singer. And... at times, she could be incredibly intimidating. Her criticism could cut you like a knife, so razor sharp and on target. The fact that I was a small child and I idolized her played no small role in this but I suddenly can see very clearly how Persephone might come into play here.

Just an observation. But it never ceases to amaze me how my chart works for me so well, in pointing out archetypes and impressions of events that made their mark on me, for better and worse....... and for better!!!

I don't think it is any accident that I was gifted with a clever, sharp tongued grandmother who loved words and language and expression as much as I do. And I really believe that everything, even the moments of self-imposed inadequacy I felt in her presence, (and please know there were many, many more beautiful moments, and I love her dearly and cherish every one of them) were lessons and experiences I really needed.

Learning to think before speaking has been a life long struggle... sometimes. Learning to speak when it was easier to be silent has often been another one. My emotions have always ruled my responses or non-responses to situations and my emotions have never been dependable, particularly since they are utterly subjective and prone to over-sensitivity. Without Saturn to temper them, to bring some common sense and stability to any given situation, I may have had an even harder struggle with communication than I already had. Many is the time that my emotional overwrought Gemini Moon over-ruled my much needed Sag Saturn/Mercury caution, but that's a classic opposition in action, if ever there was one. And so the struggle continues, and no doubt will to my dying day. But that's what life is all about.

This hidden Persephone speaks to my own personal, lifelong struggle, my Jihad, to find the perfect balance between what's better left unsaid and what needs to be heard.

Note to my fellow astrology buffs or anyone curious about finding out where their personal Persephone is located: the asteroid Persephone is 399 in the asteroid scale. If you want to find out where she resides in your chart, you can get a free account at the wonderful Astrodienst.com and when you have input your data to create your basic natal chart details you can head over to the page where you can create a chart and choose "extended chart Selection. Once there, you just choose natal chart wheel (which is the default option) and leave the chart style and house system on default and head down towards the bottom where there is a box next to the words:

additional asteroids or "hypothetical" planets (please enter the numbers from the respective lists, e.g. "433,1221,h48")

and just type in the number 399 and then scroll back up a bit again and click on the button that says

click here to show the chart

and the chart will show you which house Persephone is located.

Posted by etherealfire :: 11:02 PM :: 0 Comments:

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---------------oOo--------------- little paradise

Just dreaming again of places I'll probably never get to go....

Seychelles

Even after I toured around visually it was lovely just to close my eyes and listen to the little sound loop of paradise....

little island in the Seychelles

photo taken by Tracy Wade's gallery at stock.xchng

Posted by etherealfire :: 5:17 AM :: 3 Comments:

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Friday, March 24, 2006

archeological discovery in bangladesh

Bangladesh discovers ancient fort city

Artefacts found in the 600 x 600 meter (1,800 x 1,800 ft) include metal coins, metallic chisels, terracotta missiles, rouletted and knobbed pottery, stone hammers and bangles. Ornaments suggested Buddhism dominated life in the urban centers. Mostafizur said the citadel was believed to be a part of Harappan civilization and a prime trade center might have flourished there, possibly serving as a link between contemporary South Asian and Roman civilizations.

Posted by etherealfire :: 11:06 PM :: 0 Comments:

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---------------oOo--------------- antarctica melting at alarming rate

UK's TimesOnline reports that many coastal cities, including London and New York, will be underwater by 2100 at the rate that Antarctica's ice sheet is melting.

The threat comes from melting ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica, which scientists behind the research now believe are on track to release vast volumes of water significantly more quickly than older models have predicted. Their analysis of events between 129,000 and 116,000 years ago, when the Arctic last warmed to temperatures forecast for 2100, shows that there could be large rises in sea level.

link via HuffPo

Posted by etherealfire :: 6:01 AM :: 0 Comments:

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---------------oOo--------------- The Dixie Chicks are back

And they're Not Ready to Make Nice. Righteous indignation and hurt never sounded so beautiful. Go hear it right now. Can't wait to get this one.

I made my bed and I sleep like a baby
With no regrets and I don’t mind sayin’
It’s a sad sad story when a mother will teach her
Daughter that she ought to hate a perfect stranger
And how in the world can the words that I said
Send somebody so over the edge
That they’d write me a letter
Sayin’ that I better shut up and sing
Or my life will be over

~~~ words and music by Emily Robison, Martie Maguire, Natalie Maines, Dan Wilson

Taking the Long Way is due to be released on May 23rd.

Link via One Good Move

Posted by etherealfire :: 2:19 AM :: 0 Comments:

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Thursday, March 23, 2006

President of Oglala Sioux to establish reservation-based Planned Parenthood Clinic

Bitch PhD introduces her heroine of the week, and mine as well now that I've read about her.

Bless you Cecilia Fire Thunder.

Posted by etherealfire :: 8:31 AM :: 0 Comments:

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---------------oOo--------------- man, we were robbed....

and it just breaks my heart all over again.

One day, during the 2000 campaign, Spike Jonze spent a day with Al Gore and his family; you can watch 13 minutes of it here.

Just one more reason for me to grieve that horrible election theft; it only reinforces my conviction that this man would have made such a positive difference to our nation and our relationship with the rest of the world.

via dkos

Posted by etherealfire :: 8:29 AM :: 0 Comments:

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Friday, March 10, 2006

just a little green

I've got a stack of books I wanted to post about over at my long neglected bookblog and a couple of movies that made big impressions on me. But I don't even have the energy to do that right now, much less try to tackle current events right now. My spirit may be willing, more or less but my energy is lagging behind. So sorry.

So, as I'm in lacking substance but craving light and beautiful things (my usual state most of the time these days), I'm afraid it is time to bore you yet again with screen shots of my two most recent desktops. Oh, lucky, lucky you. :-P

I made this one on March 1st because it was green and celtic looking:

And I made this one tonight, because I was craving spring themes and a new desktop:

And I've got the lovely chorus of a favourite Joni Mitchell song stuck in my head the last few days so I guess I must be craving clorophyll (at least visually):

Just a little green
Like the color when the spring is born
There’ll be crocuses to bring to school tomorrow

Just a little green
Like the nights when the northern lights perform

There’ll be icicles and birthday clothes
And sometimes there’ll be sorrow

Actually listening to the song again, I think maybe this song is hitting me on so many levels right now....

Posted by etherealfire :: 7:34 PM :: 1 Comments:

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---------------oOo--------------- Indicted: my aunt fannie!

So I just got on line a few moments ago; only to be greeted with this heartstopping little headline from CNN:

No, not the first story; the one that says Dems Indicted: Clinton and Kerry Targeted

Heart pounding, I click on the link to be greeted by this duplicitous ugly mug and a modified headline:

followed by this completedly predictible, utterly reprehensible diatribe by the biggest, stinkiest pot having the nerve to call the kettle anything:

Mehlman's text reflected his intention to argue that Clinton's solution to support U.S. troops in Iraq was higher taxes and poked fun at Kerry for joining in the unsuccessful challenge to Supreme Court justice Samuel Alito's nomination from a conference in Davos, Switzerland.

In the 2004 campaign, presidential nominee Kerry was widely criticized for his comment about voting for $87 billion for U.S. forces and then voting against it. Mehlman will parody that line in his speech.

"They say one thing come election time, but their records show that they mean - and will do - another,'' the text said. ``They were for the Iraq war before they were against it. They were for the Patriot Act, until the far-left came out against it. ... I've bought used cars and I know a bait-and-switch when I see it."

Oh that kind of indicted. haha, I'm busting a gut here. (Can I sue somebody?)

The worst, most scandal-ridden, most despicable Administration in the entire history of the United States of America, and this is all they've got; no surprise really.

What disgusts me is their sick little enablers, that noble Free Press that arrogant, cynical propagandists who know damn well how utterly full of crap they are, still dare to call "leftist" media. Just another day in the world of slimy-filled GOP talking point purveyors and the lame-assed wimpy SCLM that loves them.

UPDATED at 3:37 PM PST

DA**! I KNEW I should have checked dkos first before posting this; sorry about that. Eh, great minds and all... LOL!

Posted by etherealfire :: 2:06 PM :: 0 Comments:

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Tuesday, March 07, 2006

everywhere in america

including South Dakota. Please read SallyCat's dkos heartbreaking diary, Little Girl Lost.

Posted by etherealfire :: 9:04 AM :: 0 Comments:

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---------------oOo--------------- Dana Morosini Reeve Dies Age 44

This breaks my heart. Especially because she was still so young with a teenage son who had already borne the loss of one parent.

She was a courageous woman who fought tirelessly on behalf of her husband for spinal cord research. In facing this latest setback, she had this to say:

She said in November that said she was able to keep her spirits up because she "had a great model. ... I was married to a man who never gave up."

The report states she never smoked.

Posted by etherealfire :: 7:04 AM :: 3 Comments:

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Monday, March 06, 2006

the battle for control of your uterus has begun

Sex, autonomy, contraception, abortion. If you are a woman, there is no issue more important right now. It's a painful, gut-wrenching, horrible issue. And we are embroiled in the Mother of all Battles about it right now: the battle over who gets to control a woman's Uterus. Imagine if you can, a similar circumstance, for our male counterparts. You can't... can you.

The first thing we need to do as women, regardless about what we may believe we feel about this issue is to inform ourselves. Let's not kid ourselves about what is going on right now in this country. If you are a woman, decisions are being made about your body right now and your permission and agreement about that is not of any interest to those who would like to implement changes.

Please follow the Green Knight and the links he provides here.

And while you are at it, please read The only moral abortion is my abortion: When the Anti-Choice Choose

The hardest thing to read about may be the most important. Maryscott Oconnor's dkos diary Abortion: Intact Dilation & Extraction.

Posted by etherealfire :: 8:28 AM :: 4 Comments:

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---------------oOo--------------- Oscar Night

well, I missed it last night... again. But that's ok, coz One Good Move saves the day again. And to think I could have had the answer pre-Oscar Ceremony due to the tremendously prescient powers of Da Colbert Code!

And thanks to Oscar's Red Carpet Gallery I got to check out my favourite part of the whole thing; the beautiful gowns (yes, I guess I'm shallow...)

Here's a couple of my personal favourites from Jessica Alba and Keira Knightly: