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  • Silvertree

    Mod post: No wishlist posts in blogs

    By Silvertree

    Please be aware that we do not permit swap-related content on profiles or in blogs. Please post this content only in the For Sale, Swaps, and Wanted forums, or in the Wishlists topic. ~from Swapping 101  Thanks!
    • 5 comments
    • 4,217 views
Do you have a flag?
 

Catastrophe in the Tub

I've had a horrible migraine today. I wandered out of bed for a bit here and there, but mostly I've been trying to stay as quiet as possible. However it seemed to be waning around 8:00 or so, so I decided to take a nice warm bath. I figured that since it was a special occasion I'd bust out the expensive bath products and use the last of my LUSH Christmas Kisses bubble bars -- one and a half of them (I have a big tub).   So I crawled in, deployed the bubble bars, and before I knew it the bubbles were arching over my tub in a humongous mound. Light was glinting off the bubbles in every direction, making me feel like I was snowblind. Bubbles, thousands of them, were popping and fizzing in my ears. (Did I mention I have a migraine?) The scent, which I normally love, was WAY too strong for me today. But by then I felt trapped in the tub under all those bubbles, and I didn't want to waste the last of my bubble bars by getting out of the tub, so I forced myself to stay in there until I couldn't take it any more.   When I was ready to get out I had to call my husband to help me because there were still so many bubbles that if I got out I'd have bubbles all over and they'd get on the floor and on my towel. I wanted him to rinse me off with water while I was still standing in the tub so I wouldn't be bubble-covered. He came in, and I looked down because I was embarrassed of the situation and wanted to hide my face, which is when I noticed that the water was cherry red because I had used so much bubble bar. So there I was, already irritated and upset because I'd made my headache worse, when I realized that I probably looked like a giant piece of fruit trapped in a tub-shaped cherry jello mold with whipped-cream-like bubbles everywhere. And I'd just invited my husband in to witness this spectacle.   I told him about the bubbles fizzing and light glinting and how I used too much and now I felt like fruit in a jello mold and I was nearly crying... I'm not sure that he understood what I was talking about but he tried to be very sympathetic and helpful. He was also trying not to laugh while he was rinsing the bubbles and drying me off, but a few giggles escaped. The whole thing must have been quite a sight. This is my first bath ever that was torture the whole time and ended in humiliation. He told me that I shouldn't feel bad since I had a life-long run of successful baths and only one failure so far. Somehow that didn't make it better.
filigree_shadow

filigree_shadow

2
Lucretia's Blog
 

grad school update

So far:   all letters of recommendation packets turned into professors. One professor is done already.   GRE scores were ordered today   transcripts will be ordered via mail tomorrow   SOP started for one school     Everything else on hold until NaNoWriMo is over   My deadlines aren't until January so I'm good still
Lucretia

Lucretia

0
Is Anybody Out There?
 

NaNo!

It's finally time to start! I'll let you know if I get my quota in today.   It's also my sister's birthday. Must remember to call her.
smallvoice

smallvoice

0
Welcome to the Flophouse
 

Crisis of Reason (as opposed to crisis of faith?)

I was raised in a very objective, scientific household. Reason ruled the roost, and we control everything around us. I still am, to this day, a very strong skeptic of anything that is unprovable through the scientific method. Can't see it? Doesn't exist. Astrology, ESP, magick, reiki, and prayer are all outside of my mental comfort zone. However I have always been curious about religions and various occult practices, and find myself drawn to them in some way, despite that. I want to believe, but can't.   Through much of my adult life, but much more strongly in the past year, I have found myself dissatisfied with my life in some way. I know that I crave some kind of spirituality, harmony, meaning in life, what have you. I feel that I want to connect with our natural world on a different level than just what we see on the surface. But, whenever I begin to actually explore anything in that direction, my inner skeptic starts squealing and scares me off. I love the ideas of reiki, tarot or herbal magick, but when I start reading about them, I feel silly. My skeptic won't let me accept that rhyming words and waving herbs around can accomplish anything, or that one herb can be connected to love and another to money, or that certain colors are affiliated with certain planets - because I can't find any logical scientific reasoning to explain it. To the same extent I have trouble believing in prayer, God, or the general idea that can be something other than molecules banging together in the universe. (Please, I mean no offense to those of you who do believe - this is not my whole view, I don't believe it is that simplistic or silly at all, but it's the skeptic voice in my head that I can't shake.)   I know there are people who are able to reconcile science/objective reasoning with their faith. Some very prominent objective scientists are religious, and somehow are able to encompass both into their lives. But I'm having a very hard time with it.   Has anyone out there gone through a similar struggle? How do you reconcile faith and reason? I know this may seem very obvious to many of you, but I'm stuck. I understand that, long ago, television and airplanes and cell phones would have been considered magick, because we just didn't understand the forces that now make them work. So I should be able to believe equally that there are forces, such as plant or human energies, that we simply haven't figured out yet, but are no less real for our lack of understanding. But, that damn voice again, it holds me back from full acceptance.   I am a Virgo, and very much a control freak. I try to control completely how the world perceives me, and I live in constant fear of being wrong, or being weak. I'm one of those who says "I meant to do that!" while picking myself up from the ground after tripping over a rock. I think that where I'm trying to go will require me to relinquish that control. There's a reason that spiritual knowledge is often referred to as 'the mysteries', right? Leap of faith - letting go of what I know and understand. Maybe that's the hurdle I'm at. Just posting this is going way out on limb for me.   Thanks for reading this far, anyone who has.
Kittyflop

Kittyflop

3
Fishnets and Frankincense
 

Ar-OOOO! Werewolves of London! Ar-OOOOOO!

Oh no! Fergus, the soccer hooligan, pushed LaVerna too far. Evidently she's watched too many Charles Bronson vigilante justice movies in her life, for she has utterly no remorse. Judging from his grinning death mask, Fergus was happy that he would be joining Beetlejuice's posse of the undead, and right now he's no doubt trying to get Wyonna Ryder to marry him.     Now everyone turn up Warren Zevon's "Werewolves of London" full-blast, and sing along!
valentina

valentina

2
Is Anybody Out There?
 

Working out

I know I need to work out more. I do. I've seen the wedding photos, and I want to be healthy. I need to be healthy.   Here's the thing. This is week 7 of 12 in the quarter. I have 6 hours logged- which is better than I've done in the past, for sure! But instead of needing 14 hours, I need 25. Here's the other thing: The lab will be open the week of Thanksgiving, but we don't get credit for working out that week. Whahuh?? And I don't think we can work out week 12, though I might be wrong. So I need 19 more hours. I kind of want them done before Thanksgiving... so I'm going to be going in every day this week and working out the full 90 minutes, instead of an hour as I've been doing. (I can only get credit for the first 90 minutes I work out per day.)   So if I work out for 90 minutes for the next 5 days that'll be an additional 7.5 hours, for a total of 13.5 hours. Then, week 8, I'll do all 6 days for another 9 hours will be 22.5... Which means I'll have 2.5 hours for week 9. Bwahaha! It's a pipe dream, to be sure. But it'd be nice to just get it out of the way.
smallvoice

smallvoice

0
Review Round-up!
 

Nuclear Winter

In the bottle: Slushy mint.   On wet: Gorgeous and grassy - like snow melting in a garden full of wild mint.   Drydown: The lovely slush-touched greenery is joined by a light, almost perfumey sweetness - a combination that makes for a fresh, incredibly unique, and downright elegant fragrance.   Overall: Even though I get a little sad when the grassy note fades to make room for that drydown-sweetness, this remains one of my favourite "cold" scents, and easily one of my favourite concept blends. 4.5/5
furygrrl

furygrrl

0
Sourball Ho!
 

In limbo

I've felt strange because nothing's been happening with the job situation. Nothing. I'm there through this week, and then I have no idea. I haven't heard back from my previous job, even after leaving a message last week. I'm not in panic mode, because between the bonus, severance and vacation time I have a few months of money, but I'd much rather save than spend. I'm glad I get to vent here.   Of course, that hasn't stopped us from going to estate sales! We haven't bought much -- an old radio cabinet with the radio removed, very art deco '30s that we want to put records in. DH bought a mini-fridge for the garage for $15. I bought a sewing book by Better Homes & Gardens from 1961 for $1.50. I found a 1950s red record tote to carry 45s -- my mom has a couple (pink? blue?) with the same exact graphics, so I was pretty jazzed to find one full of records and in great condition for $12.50.   My sister's husband and his band blew through town on Thursday. We realized between all the CDs we have, we've never seen him play live. He writes his own stuff and arranges other songs in a jazzy lounge vibe. We had a blast going up to Denton to see him and another jazz band play.
dawndie

dawndie

0
Fishnets and Frankincense
 

Ghouls, mutants and hooligans, oh my!

A few years ago, I decided that it would be fun to make odd papier mache heads for Halloween. My original notion was to make jack-o-latern heads in the style of the old German papier-mache pumpkin heads, but my mind soon went off into stranger things. I made a few almost life-sized heads of individuals, all with their own names and stories. As a friend at work told me: "I'm not sure what I find the most disturbing -- the fact that you made these utterly odd things, or the fact that you developed names and a biographies for each of them."   There's a stuffed dummy in farmer clothing sitting on the front porch at Halloween. Most of the time it has a generic head on it, but when my creations wish to have a body, they get to "head it up." Here they are, along with their stories.   Fred Frankensteer has his name because he's a cross between Fred Flintstone, Frankenstein, and a steer. An actual person was the basis for Frankensteer's creation. Frankensteer is the result of a research project carried out by an insane UNL ag institute scientist. He now lives on a farm and is frequently anxious about his life, but is too dumb to really know what to do about it. For that reason, he fits in well and votes Republican.     LaVerna is the daughter of LaVonne and Vern. She's a waitress at the local greasy spoon and is also Frankensteer's girlfriend. While she has a ring in his nose, she doesn't have his ring on her finger, thus accounting for her rather truculent demeanor. She once set a field of Frankensteer's hay on fire with her cig, but he didn't yell at her, mainly because he was too afraid she'd kick his ass.   El Cockatillo is a famed Mexican wrestler who aquired his name because his mask resembles a Cockatiel. He is also known to shriek madly for no good reason. He was driving through Nebraska on his way to visit family in the U.S., when his transmission blew out next to one of Frankensteer's farm fields. He has remained on the farm ever since, but can't figure out exactly why.   Fergus is a soccer hooligan from Scotland who was sent to Frankensteer's farm courtesy of a U.K. version of the "scared straight" program. It has been unsuccessful. Fergus takes great glee in picking on Frankensteer and then getting the snot beaten out of him by LaVerna and El Cockatillo. He proudly sports his latest shiner, courtesy of LaVerna crushing a beer can on his face.       And from everyone at my house to you, Happy Halloween!
valentina

valentina

3
What smells in here?
 

It's getting close

Really looking forward to the Meet Up here next weekend. I did some sorting out downstairs so that my cleaning later in the week will be a breeze. Rob and I also did some yard work. We raked and bags about a billion leaves, we knew what we were getting into when we bought the place. That's the reason she's called Shady Dame.   I wish I had the week off so I didn't have to wait until Thursday to get back to Trader Joe's. I'll get all the bits for the party recipes as well as the stuff to prepare for our weekend meals. It is going to be such fun having TJ's nearby, especially with the holidays rushing in.
Ina Garten Davita

Ina Garten Davita

0
A displaced Southern gal
 

A rare church visit

From a posting in Walking the Old Paths many months ago:     I went to my first UU service this morning, and I think it fits.   The Yakima Valley is officially about a third Hispanic (unofficially probably more than that), so Dia de los Muertos is a big thing around here. The service this morning talked a lot about the cycle of life and death, and about the traditions of Dia de los Muertos.   And then La Catrina paid us a visit. Sound familiar?     That's from Beth's description of the Dia de los Muertos scent. I never quite got it before.   La Catrina, as she appeared to us, is the skeleton of a fancy lady dressed up to go to a ball. She came down the aisle wearing a big frilly hat and waving a fan, wearing skeleton gloves and skeletal face paint. She curtsied to us and pulled a few people out of the congregation to dance with her, both men and women, and several couples got up on their own to join the dance as a Spanish ballad played.   When I first arrived at the church, one of the greeters mentioned that it was going to be an unusual service. And it was, and I loved it.   I was raised in the Episcopal church, and I still enjoy their services for the most part, but there are always things that seem wrong. The main thing that got me thinking about the UU church is that the man I plan to marry was raised Muslim, and I really want our family to have a shared spiritual life. He came to midnight Mass with me last Christmas, and while he enjoyed the music, a lot of the service made him very uncomfortable because it just isn't what he believes. I imagine it'd be the same for me if I joined him for Friday prayers. But based on this morning's service, I think we could both be quite happy in UU.   It isn't often that I'm in town on a Sunday morning, but I plan to go back.   Edit 'cause I totally forgot to comment on the music.
Shollin

Shollin

4
Sanity lies far North
 

Quick Note:

To: Mercury   Re: Your movement about the Earth   Message:   Could you hurry up and get the *hell* out of retrograde? I know you have an obligation to cause mayhem and maddness, and as your daughter of the Arien nature, I really appreciate it, I do. But I'm kind of over the drama at this point, so could you do me a favor and make tracks already?   Thanks. Appreciate it.   ~Honor
Honor

Honor

0
Sanity lies far North
 

I have no idea what I'm doing with this...

An experiment in madness? I think so.   Why I need another journal/blog/whatever, is beyond me. But I do it anyway, because it calls to me...like a blank spiral notebook sitting on a store shelf... I have to get it, I have to hold it, I have to have it.   I may never use it, but there it is.   Perhaps it is the lure of a fresh new page... or the temptation of the unknown, or the idea of new creative boundaries...waiting to be explored.     Or perhaps...I'm just insane.     I'm thinking it is the latter.     Maybe this is will be lost in obscurity, deigned to be second best to my LiveJournal. Maybe this will become my BPAL only blog...so as to save the readers (and there are few) of my LJ the pain of reading about "perfume" (it has it's own little world, doesn't it?)   and maybe it's time I shut up and actually got down to doing some work in the "real world".   Yes, I think so.
Honor

Honor

0
Is Anybody Out There?
 

NaNo stuff- Valentina

I think I may draw on my experiences with people here to include in my novel, but there is one name in particular I plan on using in it- Valentina. So, lady, let me know if you want me to keep my grubby hands off your name or if it's okay.   It's going to be an all female cast as far as present action goes, but male figures will play a part in past events and whatnot. I'm excited! Now to get it all outlined. I need to get back to detailing my main character! I just wanted to share- but one of my personal dares to myself is to draw on something from the forums for each chapter, so... anyway. Madness commence! Or commence madness! Or whatever. Evs! Ack.
smallvoice

smallvoice

5
Forum Updates and News
 

Guideline FAQs

One of the things I regularly hear is how hard it is to read the guidelines, especially if you're looking for something nuanced or aren't sure what section it would be in. So, we'll likely be adding a FAQ system for the guidelines. This will probably come out sometime after we upgrade to 2.2, and after we finish a complete revision of our guidelines.     So, if there's anything guideline-related that confuses you, you think people aren't sure about, you hear rumblings about when talking to your friends or reading the forums, please be sure to mention it here! Beyond getting an answer to your question, I'll keep it in mind when we're compiling our FAQ!
ipb

ipb

2
Eoywin's Blog
 

On Religion

I've been a Christian since I was born. My dad was Lutheran from birth, and my mom basically converted from Lutheran in name to Lutheran in practice.   I believe in the Christian God, and have had those 'whoa, he's touching my soul' moments.   But, I have some beliefs that rather go against some ideals that some Christians have.   I know there are ghosts, and I believe in magic and the possibilty of other gods and goddesses (I've never had a 'whoa' moment with any other deity, but I'm not discounting their existance) - if I ever get some time to devote to it, I'd love to be able to research / learn more about some pagan paths. And I really, really want to learn how to read tarot cards.   My mom looked at my horoscope when I was born, and it said something to the effect I would be very religious. She always took that to be Christian religious, which I have been for the most part. Heck, I seriously toyed with the idea of becoming a Pastor when I was in college.   But I have to wonder sometimes if that meant something beyond the Christian religion.
Eoywin

Eoywin

0
Emain Macha
 

On IP Property and Mod Censureship

Everytime another company is accused to IP infringement (and usually after they become aggressively defensive on the matter) someone will bring up a Disney character. I wasn't expecting is this time (in the H&E debate, for those who are intelligently staying away from the conversation,) honestly, because the subject has been gone over before. But, as it turns out, I was wrong.   So I'm talking about it here, for reasons I'll get to in a moment.   Basically, a refresher course in trademark law. When you introduce a product, the field that product falls into is critically important. Apple is the name of a computer company. They didn't run afoul of a problem with Apple Records (UK-based record company) until Apple Computers started selling music. You see? Same name, two different products.   So legally, Snow White the Ceramic Figure is a very different creature from Snow White the Perfume (and I know there are also copyright issues, rather than trademark issues, that come into play surrounding Snow White the Disney character that we won't go into right now because they mainly come into effect if you're writing a Snow White book or creating Snow White-themed art that does NOT look like the Disney stuff.) There is only a problem if Disney decides to start selling Snow White the Perfume. (Likely, in that case they would try to use their deep pockets and huge bank of lawyers to go after anyone else using the name irregardless of whether or not they had the original trademark, but that's the advantage being a mega-corporation gets you.) Point is, it's apples and oranges. Not the same type of product? No infringement.   And the truth is, Beth checks. I've seen her change the names of perfumes because she realized she would be infringing if she came out with something called X. Likewise, I've seen her pull a product after its release because she received a letter from someone she missed in her initial searches. There's at least one "unreleased" perfume I know of which will never see the light of day until Beth can find a replacement name for it she likes -- her original name is already being used. So yes, it does go both ways.   Beth tends to create her perfumes off of folktales, myths, and literature in the public domain (remember, Snow White is a fairy tale, not something Disney invented.) Does that mean that someone else can base their perfumes off the same fairy tale in the public domain? No. The law doesn't work that way. A competing product of the same name will cause confusion amongst customers -- that is precisely what trademark laws are designed to prevent. It does not matter if the origin of that name was something that was public domain originally or not.   I'm not a lawyer, of course, I'm an artist; but nothing I've said here can't be gleaned from the US copyright & trademark offices web site.   Now on to the reason I'm posting here, rather than putting this out over in the H&E forum where more people will see it and it would likely do more good. One, because a discussion of trademark law IS tangenty, and I've no desire to add to it, and Two, because of the perception that the mods "bully" through numbers. And yes, I am quoting Inanna9 here, although I don't personally believe that her opinion (as I have perceived it) is in the minority in any way.   It's difficult to go back and check, but if memory serves me correct, the last "kerfluffle" over on the H&E thread (before this business with Pilotkitten & BOMH) was the Thirteen debate, which was responded to by Scylla (a IP law clerk -- hard for her to resist,) Ivyandpeony (a lawyer, ditto) and Jenpo (who made a few comments before she realized she wasn't helping the discussion and bowed out.) Embezel (another laywer) finally responded after the tangent on IP law had been split into a different thread. So three mods, really, that made comments, and all of them with expert opinions and insight on the subject at hand. And yet, the number Inanna9 mentioned was twice that, and rather than point fingers at her or some such silliness I think that I'll simply say that I think her observation is a keen reflection of the problems of being a moderator, the metaphorical "space" we seem to take up on this forum, the tendency to group all mods into an amoeba like amalgam, and the perceived intimidation factor of knowing a dozen mods are watching a thread, even if they aren't participating.   Any forum member can go to the main forum page, hit "My Assistant" at the top, then "Top 10 Posters" and receive a list of the top 10 posters on the forum. Notice that 8 out of 10 of those are moderators? Why? Not because we're handing out that many "warnings" but because we are opinionated, chatty bitches. We always have been. In many cases, part of the whole reason we were asked to become moderators is because of our willingness to throw ourselves wholeheartedly into a debate and do so often. We are MORE than happy to throw our personal opinions into the mix. We are not automatons. We are not drones.   Yet if too many of us reply to a thread, we're viewed as bullying or intimidating or some such. And it seems like our detractors quite forget that we are people too, that we have opinions that are not the "party line" (whatever that is) and we came here to these forums to talk about perfume and politics and make-up along with everyone else. Go visit some of the other perfume threads and you'll likely notice mods enthusing over the products of Ave Lux, or DSL or Possets -- these are not "all other perfume companies besides BPAL are EVIL!" people. I was rather stunned by the suggestion that Michele over at H&E was within her rights to ban Laurin (Scylla) because she was a mod and obviously hostile to H&E. Can you imagine if we did things the same way here? Banned people just because they didn't like us or criticized BPAL? But it turns out that you actually have to break rules here to be kicked out -- "we don't like you" is not good enough.   After a while, it gets a bit hard to stay calm and unemotional about the whole situation, certainly. And maybe some day I'll get a thicker skin about the fact that no matter how fair or even-handed we try to be, we're still going to be labeled as tyrants.   I guess "Mod Censorship" means something very different to me.
Macha

Macha

13
Is Anybody Out There?
 

Well...

I'm actually in a fairly good mood. I got my switchee's package all wrapped up and mailed out today in what I thought was a flat rate box, but was not. Ah well.   The box is painfully small, but it is well packed and there are a few things in there I think she'll enjoy. Now to wait for her to get it! I love this part- not so much the waiting, but the hoping she'll love it and knowing it's on the way.   By the way, inky, I knew you were monet's switch witch- something about the bubble tea in the drawing made me think of you. Dude! You're an artist!   I hope you all have been as spoiled as I have. My SW still hasn't done a reveal, but left me a note saying that she would do that very soon. I'm on pins and needles!   I'm really glad that my husband and I get to be together... we didn't realize how much the housemate was draining our emotional resources- and we already thought he was draining too much. As for the housemate... only time will tell if he and I will get back to a place of friendship. Right now, wounds need time to close up and heal. After that, it's sort of in his court.   The boy and I are getting used to being comfortable in our own home with one another, and that is a good feeling.   With the exception of the ever present money issue. Gah.
smallvoice

smallvoice

3
Fishnets and Frankincense
 

Making a roux with good intentions

A few of us in my office found out that our former coworker isn't expected to make it to 2007. He refuses to take a defeatist attitude, and while some people might call it serious denial, I've never read a story about someone who beat the odds who didn't have that positive attitude. So I think he should just go for it, and the rest of us can steady ourselves for what might happen, but in the meantime, support him in every step of his process.   One of my coworkers took him to the doctor today, and was given instructions to give a couple of us in the office thank-you hugs (both females, of course). So my coworker gave me a hug, and he told me that he later on got a waft of Snake Oil that had apparently transferred from me to his shirt. Hee! He wasn't complaining, not in the least. In fact, he said he might wear that shirt all weekend. Goofus.   So I'm making chicken and sausage gumbo this weekend and I'm packing up some for my ailing buddy. He does like Cajun food, I know that much. I wish I could brew in some get well voodoo, so maybe I'll try to hold those intentions while cooking it. I went to an aryuvedic cooking workshop once, and the teacher talked about the importance of cooking with good intentions. It can't hurt. However, if I'm making a gumbo, it's really difficult not to have sexual fantasies while making a roux. You have to stand there and stir so long, what else is there to do? I am such a perv. I will control myself. Otherwise my poor friend will call me up and tell me that he wanted to listen to Aerosmith after eating that gumbo, and damn, is that Joe Perry something else or what?   I had a PayPal balance that I didn't expect to have, so I went in tonight and spent it on the Lab. I purchased 4 GC bottles; I have a decant circle set of holiday scents coming later on, and I may order a few of them. But the PayPal balance was going to burn a hole in my brain, and I couldn't wait. I keep falling in love with GC scents, and for that, I feel fortunate. (Now watch me go berzerk for the bottle of 13 that I have on order.) But tonight I ordered The Lion; I am a Leo, how did I go so long without The Lion? I know why -- I didn't like amber until I tried BPAL, and it took me a while to work up enough courage to test BPAL amber scents. I also ordered Dragon's Milk (never tried it, but if it doesn't work on me, I know a couple of nice people on the forum who could find a wee bottle of Dragon's Milk in a surprise package), Perversion and Follow Me Boy. FMB smells great on its own, but I love layering it with Siren.   I love the sight of all of the little bottles, all lined up in a row. Damn. I am so lucky to be healthy and have a sense of smell and be able to enjoy this stuff.
valentina

valentina

3
Squash Soup
 

you know you're obsessed when....

I dreamt last night that I was at someone's house and they were otherwise occupied so I got into their BPAL! They had all sorts of the new scents that I was dying to try (Pumpkin Queen) and so I had a lovely time sniffing my way through.   That's all I remember but isn't that a lovely dream!   Pumpkin Queen smelled lovely by the way.
jessiesquash

jessiesquash

0
Review Round-up!
 

Loralei

In the imp: Paint (I get that a lot, for some reason ) and the faintest hint of something sour.   On wet: The sourness is more pronounced, though there's a hint of almost herbal sweetness underneath. I'm not getting any note specifically at this point.   Drydown: I smell sandalwood first. Oh, and there's the ylang - I'm becoming more appreciative of ylang ylang, so I'm glad it's a somewhat dominant presence in this blend so far. When I inhale deeply, I get a dry, almost dusty sweetness that reminds me of that orange sugar powder you'd get in in a Fun Dip (or Lik-m-aid, or whatever those things were called). A very interesting, yet pleasing combination!   Overall: This scent worried me at first - it was coming across as "generic-bought from a drugstore-old lady perfume". Now? ::sniffs wrist:: I smell like candied oranges! The sandalwood and ylang are still in the picture, too, keeping things from getting too saccharine, and really making for a nicely balanced group of notes. A very happy fragrance. 3.5/5
furygrrl

furygrrl

0
Fishnets and Frankincense
 

The answer is: "No."

I won't get into a long-winded explanation of who Ken Wilber is and why I find his work fascinating, but much of his work would be considered transpersonal psychology -- the study of how people grow and evolve. I get a newsletter from his organization, and they link to various articles in the media that are of interest to people intrigued by transpersonal psychology, spiral dynamics and all that stuff.   This is one that I can't resist putting up on my blog, since anyone who's read my rants about my annoying coworker will know that the article made me laugh. But it will also be useful to anyone with an annoying boss, family member, coworker, whacky neighbor, whatever... If you've ever found yourself asking, "Don't they get it?" The answer may very well be, "No." Seriously, what can you do about it, other than laugh? Besides, it hurts less than beating your head on the wall.   http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?.../18/MN73840.DTL
valentina

valentina

9
Forum Updates and News
 

On duplicate accounts

A few of our long-existing code tweaks are here for duplicate account detection. For the most part, we haven't done much with them. We've got a great set of members here, and most of our members wouldn't purposely make duplicate accounts. A few have made new accounts in the past when they've forgotten their logins or passwords, or who weren't able to get their account to validate properly, and that's ok. I was actually surprised at the number of people who PM'd me after last Sunday's reminder about duplicate accounts telling me that they'd made accounts but never used them. Kudos to you for letting me know & straightening it out! I really do appreciate it.   But, we've had some people that, for whatever reason, create duplicate accounts. Some of them do it to get around account restrictions (like the swaplifters I mentioned in my previous post). Others do it to troll, others do it just so they've got a sock puppet ("just in case").     So, we've had a bunch of tools. Some use cookies, some use IP addresses. Cookies are tiny files stored on your computer by websites in order to uniquely identify the user. They're what lets you stay logged into the forum even after you close your browser, and how amazon.com magically knows who you are when you go there. IP addresses (ofen just called "IPs") are assigned by your service provider. They're like mailing addresses - just like how mailing addresses tell the post office how to send your mail from the Lab to your home, IPs tell the server how to send your web pages from the host server (such as bpal.org) to your computer.   And I'll say it again: most people do not realize what all is recorded whenever you use the internet. Not to sound all "big-brother" like, but every click you make, every hotlink you make, every time you view anything, every time you log in to check your webmail, or log out of your amazon account... it all gets logged, and by multiple people. Your ISP. The ISPs along the route. The server. If the site you're viewing is database driven, likely that database as well. Nobody may be paying attention, but it's all there. This is standard practice, and we're no different.     Anyway, back to the point of all of this, I won't get into specifics as to how our duplicate topic tools work, except this:   IP addresses can vary between times of logging onto (especially for people who use dial-up internet, where you'll get a different IP each time you log-in to your ISP), and people can legitimately have the same IP (for instance, people who use AOL will often have the same IP, or people who work at the same corporation site, or people who use wireless). Cookies, however, do not. They're unique to your computer.   As a result, if someone comes up as a duplicate account on our cookie analyzer, it's given much more weight than someone who comes up as a duplicate account on our IP analyzers, and they will be contacted with a short and painless survey to get a brief idea as to what is going on. 99% of these people are legitimate - people who are using a computer lab or sharing a computer or signing into approved specialty accounts (such as the "switch witch" account), or again - people whose accounts weren't validating properly.     To date, there's only been one person who flat out refused to answer my questions about this. And people, these questions aren't rocket science. It's things like "Do you share your computer?" or "How do you connect to the internet?"   Though, I should correct my statement: she answered them on her duplicate account I found the answers to be questionably at best (there were alot of inconsistencies with what she claimed and what she answered). For instance, she claimed to have found the Lab through NALF (the North America Lush Forum, for those that aren't familiar with it - who is members-only for their "Retail Therapy" equivalent). She also claimed to use the same username everywhere. Well, you know what? It doesn't take more than 5 minutes to go to NALF and scan through their member list to determine whether or not the account exists there.   And I looked, because I am nothing if not thorough. If I am going to tell my moderators and co-administrator that we have a duplicate account - ESPECIALLY when it's a person that we (as a whole) do not have the best relationship with - I want to be damn sure that I have as clear an idea of what is going on as possible.     Because cookies is not enough -- just ask the Lab: Beth, Brian, and Teddy are all known to share computers and log in and out to get into the forum.     There comes a point in time where coincidences are stretched too thinly, and when the story I'm told by one account isn't holding up to examination, I have to use Occam's Razor: that the simplest explanation that accounts for all of the evidence is the most likely explanation.       And I'm not stating this to "argue my position". You can take this, or you can leave this. But I prefer transparency to what goes on around here, especially in something that has become so drama-riffic.   So here are the facts, as I see them, on anxious1 and her duplicate account usage. This is not a comprehensive list, as that would be quite long. First, a timeline.   Timeline: (Unrelated) Mid April, anxious1 basically gets kicked out of NALF for breaking their e-tailer policies. A note, for those that aren't a member of NALF, that their e-tailer policies are very similiar to ours - especially . If you search for her username (also anxious1) and show just the posts, you'll see she made 12 posts, of which 1 was a negative review about a LUSH product. The rest were pimping her business.   On 6/12, anxious1 originally gets reminded about the e-tailer rules, which state that she cannot be here for just pimping her goods, and that she needs to participate in the forum as a whole and cannot use the forum to support her business.   In early July, we posted an announcement in Retail Therapy reminding e-tailers about our rules. This is unrelated to anxious1 - we'd just been noticing a bunch of e-tailers coming in to pimp their business.   On 7/21, she gets moved to the "e-tailer" member group, as she is continuing to break our rules.   On 7/26, after much discussion, this group (of which anxious1 is NOT the only member) has its ability to see most BPAL-related forums (including: Suggestions, Recommendations, Swaps, BPAL Chatter, TAL Chatter) taken away. This is unrelated to anxious1 and had been under discussion, off and on, for a few months. For clarification: here, I refer to restricting what the member group can view, not the member group itself. We've been using the e-tailer member group for over a year.   On 7/27, anxious1 creates the account "Testing123" from her home computer.   On 7/28, she PMs several of the e-tailers that follow our rules (and thus aren't even part of the "e-tailer" member group). I wouldn't be surprised if she also PM'd the individuals in the e-tailer group, but most of them left after we asked them to stop only posting about their products. Incidentally, I know this because these individuals contacted us.   On 10/17, we notice that there was a rather suspicious-sounding account ("Testing123") that was accessing some weird topic that one of the mods was looking at. The moderator who noticed the Testing123 does a quick IP-post search and finds out that the only person who has posted from that IP is anxious1.   On 10/17, I start working with our analyzing tools to see what's going on with those accounts, and to go ahead and do a sweep for duplicate accounts. (As you know, duplicate accounts are not allowed. So, the analysis on IPs and what not started happening then. It's a slow and painful process, because there's quite a bit of information to go through.) I also given both accounts vastly restricted forum permissions (the same permissions everyone who hasn't certified the original set of guidelines is in, incidentally).   Around 10/18, anxious1 obtains a third account. One of her customers had created a second account in July 05 (jasperzwrath) when she was having issues accessing our forum, and gives her the login because anxious1 "wants to check in the H&E thread". Incidentally, this individual came to me to tell me what happened with her duplicate account shortly after the duplicate account announcement was put up. It's important to note here that I can tell, by timestamps & IPs & cookies, which user (anxious1 or the original owner) accessed which topics. So when I say that anxious1 accessed, on this account, a topic, I really do know that it was her and not the original owner. And these duplicate accounts accessed more than the H&E topic - including some Recommendations, Suggestions (mostly for foody oils, incidentally, the very kind of oils she tends to sell), Swaps, BPAL Chatter, as well as the other perfume shops. The first four of those, to reiterate, anxious1 cannot access under that account.   By 10/18, the anxious1 analysis is more-or-less complete. The cookie analysis was incomplete, but the IP analysis showed that the vast majority of her posts (108 out of 112) were made at three IPs - two I identify as "Work" (being her Fortune 500, day job employer, which had 72 posts), one I identify as "Home" (being a typical broadband provider for the area). The other four posts were made from other places. Of these seven IPs, there are exactly THREE accounts with any traffic: anxious1, Testing123, and jasperzwrath.   By 10/19, the cookie analysis is complete. The cookies show that at the Work IP and the Home IP, anxious1 switched back and forth between jasperzwrath, Testing123, and anxious1 during the previous week. We'd also found three other accounts that used multiple accounts. All accounts get a PM & restricted access.   By 10/21, all outstanding accounts have answered the survey EXCEPT for anxious1 (who stated that "Are you saying that I have dual accounts? I do not and am not going to be subjected to questions" when we originally asked, and never did answer my questions). Despite not having a firm answer from anxious1, feel there's enough evidence between the IPs, the cookies, the statement from the jasperzwrath original owner, and inconsistencies with what Testing123 was saying and anxious1 was saying to call it a duplicate account. Incidentally, one of the inconsistencies that Testing123 had said is that she didn't know who anxious1 was, but that "she frequently visited the H&E topic".       If it was just an IP similarity, it could be a coincidence that someone works near anxious1 and happens to also live near her. It becomes less so when you take into consideration that the cookies are showing the accounts regularly share a computer, and nobody claims to share a computer. It's even less so when you have someone tell you that anxious1 was using their duplicate account. And less so when one of the accounts is flat-out lying in their responses (such as when Testing123 claimed to use Testing123 everywhere, hear about us via the NA Lush Forum, and when checking, there's no member with the ID "Testing123" there).     Note that here, I have not said a WORD about how anxious1 runs her business, though there are two blogs that I've seen that sort of talk about it. I am ONLY commenting on our duplicate account policy and a little bit about how we uncovered one specific duplicate account.     And, if you're still reading this, I applaud your ability to listen to me ramble.   I'm sharing all of this for several reasons: First and foremost, I do think people need to know that we can, and do, identify duplicate accounts, and that in most cases (thus far), it's nothing major. Nobody that has been honest and up-front with us have been warned for making this mistake.
Secondly, I want people to realize that when we bust someone for having a duplicate account, it's not just a matter of two IPs matching. It involves a pattern of traffic (both in IPs and in cookies), personal discussion with the accounts, and some fact-checking.
Finally, with the to-do with anxious1 being suspended, I thought people should know what happened. And that at the end of the day: she was suspended not for the e-tailer violations (though it was a consideration in the duration of the suspension), not for the creation of the duplicate accounts... but for lying about using other accounts, about misleading us via one account, and for trying to claim that it was all one giant coincidence.
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