4.30.2001

HBO.com recently had a Sopranos look-alike contest. The winners have been posted, and the look-alikes include Tony, Carmela, Uncle Junior, Christopher and Janice. I think the Uncle Junior look-alike is the best.

Those wacky Romanians are at it again.

Filmwise has this week's Invisibles quiz up: #21 Fun With Wheelchairs. I could only get 4 of the 8, and had no idea what the others could be. I guess you couldn't call me a Wheelchair Movie Officianado then, huh?

beansie time warp cam

no, you're not the only one who thinks I look like a boy, even with the frilly shirt
Me, at about age 6 or 7, not sure. Get a load of that potatohead. I'm surprised my little neck could hold it up.

"Cat survives 10-minute laundry spin". God, and here I felt bad for stepping on MacGuyver's toes yesterday. Little does he know how bad it could have been!

In case you were wondering where I was yesterday...I did go out on Saturday night and yes, it did kill me.

4.28.2001

Good morning.

The Xcursion guys have posted their weekly review. It's a thoughtful one, and I enjoyed reading it.

Oh, I feel old tonight.

Don't get me wrong. I know that, in the greater scheme of things, I am not old. This is just one of those times when circumstance revealed my true age to me. I chose not to go out tonight, to stay home and relax and watch, you guessed it, TV. Not so unusual for me, no. But I didn't just watch any old TV - I watched A&E's Live by Request with The Bee Gees. Two whole hours and I sang along with every song. The camera panned the crowd, and as I jokingly noted all the "old" white people gettin' down to "Jive Talkin' ", I realized they were me. Or I was them. However you say it, the point was driven home to me when I got up off my lazy butt during a commercial break and my leg almost went out from under me as my hip gave way.

Come hell or high water, as God is my witness, I shall hit the town tomorrow night if it kills me.

4.27.2001

Hey, we're back!! For some reason the SNET server was unavailable for most of the day, today. Hmmph.

Of course, now that we're back I find that I don't have anything all that magnificent to say. How about a link for now? Red has updated GeekSpeak with Empedocles commentary from me and Colleen. Run, don't walk!

4.26.2001

Well, Whadya Know

Why do we joke about fools believing the moon is made from
green cheese?

It's not just green cheese by default. Did you ever stop
to think, just what is "green cheese," after all? There's no
such thing, right? Literally, that's true. The "green" in
this old proverb refers to the quality of "newness."
Specifically it described a hunk of cheese that had not yet
aged, the appearance of which reminded people of what the
moon looked like from afar. But only a fool thought it was
really made from it.

[source: Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins by William and
Mary Morris]


Why do they call that radioactive stuff "uranium?"

Uranium was discovered in 1789 by Martin Klaproth, a
German chemist, who named it after the planet Uranus.
Sir William Herschel discovered
and named Uranus a few years previously.

In fact, 150 years ago people were already practicing
radioactive medicine, treating everything from birthmarks to
ringworm with uranium. No wonder they're all dead! (hehe)

[source: The Secret Lives of Words by Paul West]


Gosh I am bored this afternoon. Compounding matters is the fact that it is a beautiful spring day today, and I can think of about 17 different things I would rather be doing right now than sitting at this desk. Alas, one has to make a living, such as it is. So, instead of playing hooky, I put together a page of pictures of a wine tasting thing I went to last night and posted it for the people in my office to see. Please excuse the sorry state of the site - it was one of my first efforts and it shows! One of these days I have to pretty it up a bit, as well as update those dead links. Of course, if I was actually paid to do that kind of work and if anyone in this place actually used the site, it would already be done. ;)

So, let me see if I got this right... because God disapproves of homosexuality, He has stricken cows with foot and mouth disease.

Makes perfect sense to me.

4.25.2001

The ex post facto page has been updated to include my thoughts on the latest X-Files episode, "Empedocles".

beansie time warp cam

dork in progress
me, about 35 years ago

Cute Animal Picture of the Day!

Here's a giggle for ya:

Grimacing Congressman Quickly Drafts Legislation For Charley-Horse Research

WASHINGTON, DC-- Grimacing in considerable pain Monday, Rep. William Delahunt (D-MA) quickly drafted and introduced the 2001 Charley Horse Research Appropriations Act, which would allocate $100 million for "immediate research" to find a charley-horse cure. "Charley horses are a serious--oh, Jesus--medical condition that afflicts millions of Americans every day," Delahunt told House colleagues. "And so let us--Christ, this kills--pass this bill as soon as possible." When informed that the earliest the bill could be passed and signed into law is next Monday, Delahunt moaned and pounded the podium.


[source: The Onion]


4.24.2001

On a related note, read about a man with "ominous bulges" in his pants.

Desperate times call for desperate measures, I suppose.

I've added a link to The Hunger Site on the right side of this page. Please take the time to stop by their site and help the hungry by simply clicking your mouse. Do this once a day and you're making a difference. How much easier could it be? The Hunger Site now also has companion sites that are linked to from its homepage:

The Landmine Site
The Rainforest Site
The Kids AIDS Site
The Child Survival Site
The Breast Cancer Site

Take a look at them, if you feel so inclined - you may find there is a need that you can fill.

Okay, enough campaigning. Thanks!

4.23.2001

The internet is being used as a sex aid by women, reports a website survey. This is according to an online survey by allabouteve.com, which also reports that 53% of the women who responded "like to go online to giggle at what they find." Can you blame them?


Think it might be time to upgrade that computer? Can't really afford it and need to find some good reasons not to (like me)? You might want to read this salon.com column.

4.22.2001

I had some unsettling news today. Not of the personal kind, don't worry. It was more along the lines of a close-call, one that I had no idea had occurred. A co-worker called me today to tell me that there had been an underground gas explosion on the very street we were cleaning as part of the Earth Day Cleanup yesterday. The explosion occurred just a couple of hours after the event wrapped up. Jesus, thank God it wasn't earlier in the day. No one was seriously injured and power has been restored (my office is on that block and thankfully the servers are up today). After the drama of what could have happened had subsided, my next thoughts were purely selfish - all that hard work cleaning that neighborhood and the damn thing blows up! ;) Oh well, our team did win the award for Best Team Spirit.

The Fishing Season Opening Day Pig Roast was a lot of fun. I hadn't seen a whole roasted pig before, and seeing them take the thing out of the grill was a little disturbing, but I ate some, of course. Delicious. Oh, there was one other disturbing thing...there were tons of kids there, and one of them, a young girl about 8 or 9 years old was fascinated with the pig's head. I mean fascinated. She stood by the table for a while, examining the head, putting a sandwich in its mouth and peanuts in its eyes. She eventually put the head on a paper plate and took it with her to the swingset. She placed the head on her lap and slid down the slide. Not wanting to give it up quite yet, she sat on a swing with the cherished head on her lap, swinging back and forth thinking who know's what thoughts. We watched her in horror and amazement. Some said she was going to grow up to be a serial killer; I tried to put a nice spin on it and suggested that she might possibly grow up to save countless lives as a forensic pathologist, but I dunno...

There was no camping this year, unfortunately. I was disappointed, but it was quiet chilly last night so it was surely for the best. I'm stiff as a board from all that raking and sweeping yesterday and I'm sure a night on the cold ground would not have helped matters! Speaking of which, a nice hot bath may be in order for this creaky old body...

4.21.2001

I know that millions of you out there will be heartbroken, but I am afraid I have to report that there will bo no updates to beansie until sometime tomorrow. I know, I know, whatever will you all do in the meantime?

The opportunity to have a life, such as it is, presented itself this weekend and I snatched it. I'm heading out in a few minutes to join a volunteer Earth Day Cleanup in downtown Waterbury that will last for a few hours. Then I'll be off to a friend's for a Fishing Season Opening Day Pig Roast/Camping party. I'm not sure exactly what'll transpire there, but I'm sure it'll involve people sitting around their pitched tents and drinking beers. It should be fun.

Have a good weekend, everyone!

4.20.2001

Quick, call Mulder! And don't forget to check the back of this guy's neck!

The hills are alive, with the sound of MOO-sic....It's been a tough year for cows, huh?

You know, it's interesting... when you get to be my age (almost-but-not-quite 37 yrs old), you begin to notice yourself exhibiting certain characteristics of your parents, both physical and behavioral. For instance...

I went to City Hall yesterday to pay my mother's car taxes. In front of me in line was a woman and her two young sons. The littlest one was about 4 or 5 years old, cute as a bug and completely obnoxious. The Tax Collector's office was the last place in the world he wanted to be; he decided that a tantrum would get him what he wanted and so he started to yell at the top of his lungs, "I'm hungry! I'm hungry! I'm hungry! I'm hungry! I'm hungry!" nonstop while running in circles around his mother's legs. I stood there, watching him, waiting for him to feel my eyes boring into the top of his little head. He finally peered up at me over his little wrap-around sunglasses. The look in his eye said it all : "Are you on to me, Lady?" He was daring me to say something. Instead of smiling at him in a sweet, maternal manner and trying to engage him in coversation as a diversionary tactic, I found myself shooting this kid a look that Medusa would have envied. He stopped dead in his tracks, trying to gauge what threat I posed, if any. I was this close to leaning over and telling him to "Knock it off, right now" when he decided his chances for success were much better if he stayed in front of his mother and out of range of the daggers that were shooting out of my eyes. He quieted down shortly thereafter, but that's not the point of this story. The point is, that is exactly what my father would have done. Except he wouldn't have stopped at just the look - he would have leaned down and whispered those words in the kid's ear, nearby parent be damned. My only solace in this is knowing that I have a good 20 years before I get to that point.

I won't even get into what if feels like to look at my hands and see my mother's.

4.19.2001

Filmwise has the Invisibles #19 quiz up. This one's a bit tougher than the last. I got 5 out of 8, but I left 3 blank. Good luck!

Jesus, people just amaze me. Nevermind the rampant misogyny - one has to wonder how binding this contract is if the subject of the contract, the "property", had no idea such a pact was being made. This is the 21st century, isn't it?

And now for something completely different...

Mr. Johnson is now trying to find five-year-old Morgan a home in a zoo or an aquarium.

I think maybe Mr. Johnson needs to find five-year-old Morgan a mate.

From The New York Times' "On This Day":

At Least 31 Are Dead, Scores Are Missing
After Car Bomb Attack in Oklahoma City
Wrecks 9-Story Federal Office Building


That was the NY Times frontpage headline the day after Timothy McVeigh bombed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City six years ago. Reading the story, I was struck with the same sick feeling I had when I listened to the news reports come in over NPR in my office the day it happened. I remember later seeing the pictures on the television. I remember thinking this stuff doesn't happen here - it happens in Beirut, in Jerusalem, in Belfast, not in middle America. Not to little babies.

McVeigh's execution will take place in about a month, I believe. I'm not a believer in capital punishment, but what else do you do with someone who killed 168 men, women and children in cold blood? May God have mercy on his soul.
Oh, this poor guy has had the hiccups for 8 months. Man. I don't get them very often, but when I do it sometimes takes 2 or 3 days to get rid of them completely. That's nothing, though - the article mentions a guy who had the hiccups for 60 years.

Good morning! I spent a few hours last night changing the banner on each page and tweaking a couple of linking and design issues. Let me know if you encounter any bad stuff. Have a good day.

4.18.2001

I just found out that Wonder Woman turns 60 this year. I'm not a comic book reader, but I loved the TV show, lol. Happy Birthday, Wonder Woman!

All the world is waiting for you/and the power you possess/In your satin tights/fighting for your rights/And the old red white and blue




My horoscope from The Onion:

Cancer: (June 22--July 22)
Venus ascending in your sign may sound sexy, but it's really just a function of its orbit. So don't get all excited.


Fine.


I called my mother to make sure she knew about the President's visit and to suggest that she walk down the street to see what she could glimpse. Nah, she said. W. hasn't impressed her enough yet. She shook JFK's hand when he came through here when she was in high school and I doubt anyone will ever be able to top that.

Another design change. Whadya think?

[I'll update the other pages when I get home tonight - I've wasted enough time here at work this morning]

Okay, where the hell have I been? George W. is coming to Waterbury, CT today, the town where I work and where my mother lives. As a matter of fact, his helicopter, Marine One, should be landing right now up at Bradley International. He'll be visiting an elementary school in my mother's neighborhood. I had no idea. How pathetic is that? He's not my favorite president, but he's still President of the United States and how many opportunities do you get to see one in person in your life? So far zippo for me. Now I understand what those gigantic Army helicopters were doing landing in the trees up on the hill off the highway the other night.

I better call my mother and see if she knows.

Christ Almighty.

It's s - n - o - w - i - n - g .

4.17.2001

The ex post facto page has been updated to include my thoughts on "Three Words".

Cats and dogs, living together - mass hysteria!

Damn, that's a cute picture.

I swore yesterday that I would rewatch "Three Words" last night and write my review and heavens to Betsy, I actually did what I said I was going to do. Red, faster than a speeding bullet, has posted my review along with hers and Colleen's at GeekSpeak. Thanks, Red.

Ah, those Wacky Romanians...

Just what a man needs, lessons on how to be a sleaze.

Setup: Do you smoke after sex?
Punchline: I don't know, I never looked .

sexiestgeekalive.com. I think the name speaks for itself. I guess the "pageant" kicks off this month and the winner will be chosen in June. You can check out last year's SGA and consult the tour dates section for an appearance near you.

Right on.

Sci-Fi has an interview up with The Lone Gunmen. I don't watch the show because of airtime conflicts, but as a fan of The X-Files I enjoyed the article just the same.

4.16.2001

Joey Ramone Remembered.

I never really got into The Ramones. For me, once you heard one Ramones song you'd heard them all. And forget about going to a Ramones show -- two male friends of mine went to a Ramones show in a local club about 10 years ago and came home looking like they had been mauled by a really pissed-off wild animal. Their shirts were in shreds, eyeglasses were broken, wristwatches had been ripped off and there were fleshwounds as well. I was in my mid-20s by then, so maybe I was too old to appreciate that kind of vibe. Who knows.

Regardless of whether or not I ever got into the Ramones, though, there is no denying the much needed kick in the ass they gave to rock 'n roll.
A man walked by Sheila and me on Saturday night while we were listening to a band play at our favorite bar. It was pretty obvious there was something a little 'off' about him. He took short little steps and walked very closely behind the person in front of him. His head sort of twitched about like a bird's. Being the compassionate person that I am, I nudged Sheila and told her to check him out.

Me (sort of out of the corner of my mouth), "Check out this guy... I think there's something wrong with him."

Sheila takes a faux casual look around and says back, "Is he retarded? Or is he from Yale?"

I laughed for 10 minutes straight.

I heard on the radio this morning that David Chase, creator of The Sopranos, has informed all cast and crew associated with the show that they are not to deal with abcnews.com (or ABC News, I would assume) since the online news source has posted spoilers (or possible spoilers) about who will get "offed" on the series this year. I'm not including the link to the abcnews.com story because I don't want encourage the spoilage. Besides, I'm sure that if you really want to know you'll have no trouble finding the article.

From MSNBC's News of the Weird:

Frankfurt University researchers, according to a January issue of New Scientist, found that ants living in bamboo stems in Malaysian rain forests keep their nests dry by drinking any water that seeps in, then exiting the nest, urinating, then returning to the nest, repeating the process over and over until the nest is dry. The researchers found that 2 milliliters of water in a nest caused a colony's ants to scurry back and forth until they had urinated 3,000 droplets outside. [New Scientist, 1-6-01]

Sounds like me after a few beers.

Off to Paper Clip Hell, I hope.

Red has updated GeekSpeak with reviews of "Three Words" and the Xcursion Guys weekly column is up. I have yet to read either site's reviews myself, and I won't until I get my own thoughts down. At this rate, I may never read them!

I will watch tonight and write, I promise. Really. I swear.

4.15.2001

What a great homecoming picture.

[This is something I know I've always wondered about]

Well, Whadya Know

Why is it easier to tear an article from a newspaper from top
to bottom than from side to side?

In order to print the news, you need newsprint, the wood pulp paper product on
which the opin . . . uh facts go. That pulp is broken down
into many small fibers that tumble onto a conveyor belt.
This process naturally aligns them in the direction the belt
is moving, a direction they retain when formed into sheets
and then large rolls of newsprint: straight up and down.

Thus when you clip an article from top to bottom you go with
the grain and achieve a smooth cut; tear it out from the side
and you are ripping against the grain and risk losing part of
the article.

[source: Ever Wonder Why? By Douglas B. Smith]





"I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die." John 11:25-26

Have a wonderful Easter, everyone.

4.12.2001

Success! Thanks to the friendly people at BlogVoices, my problem is no more. I take back what I said earlier about tech support. For now ;).

So, how does it work? I'm not all that sure myself, but as far as I can tell, if you would like to post a comment regarding a particular post, click on the comment link associated with that post and a BlogVoices window will pop up. Enter your info and remarks and post your message. If I set things up correctly I should receive an e-mail with your comment and you should be able to view other people's messages. If you have difficulty getting it to work, drop me a line and I'll check into it.

I've been trying add discussion capability to this blog, courtesy of BlogVoices, but I haven't quite got it right yet. As a result, the "comment" links at the end of each post don't work right now. I'll let you know when they do.

beansie cam at work



I just love my job

From The New York Times' "On This Day":

"He did his job to the end as he would want you to do. Bless you all and all
our love. Mother."

Those who have served with the late President in peace and in war accepted
that as their obligation. The comment of members of Congress unanimously
reflected this spirit. Those who supported or opposed Mr. Roosevelt during
his long and controversial years as President did not deviate in this. And
all hailed him as the greatest leader of his time.


President Franklin Delano Roosevelt died on this day in 1945. You can read The New York Times' front page article from that day 56 years ago here. It's a fascinating read and it makes me wonder if there will ever be such a reaction to the loss of a president again.

A victory for owners of temperamental appliances everywhere. Now if I could only do that with tech support!

The future is now. The governor of Texas, Rick Perry, makes a holographic appearance. It would have been just that much cooler if he wore a Darth Vader costume.

4.11.2001

Filmwise has put up a new "Invisibles" quiz - #18: Those Darn Kids. I got 6 out of 8 correct - see how you do.

"Thankfully no-one was seriously harmed during the filming."

My mother outed me in the Walmart checkout line on Sunday.

We were being rung-up and she started talking to me about the most recent X-Files episode she had seen. She's just now starting to get into the show, after 7 and a half years. She always thought it was "like that Star Trek show", which she never really liked. "It's not all about aliens," she tells me. Thanks, Mommy.

So anyway, there we are in the checkout line and she's gabbing about whatever it was she saw. The cashier asks, "What show are you talking about?" Now, I wouldn't exactly say 'we' were talking about anything; a better description would have been that my mother was talking to the back of my head as I placed the bagged items in our shopping cart. As comfortable as I claim to be in my geeky x-files skin, there are just times when I rather that geekiness not be broadcast to the entire world.

Next thing I know, my mother and the cashier are in the throes of a very LOUD conversation - not only about The X-Files, but about my involvement in it. A couple of examples from my mother's mouth:

"She e-mails with the smoking man, you know. Mhm."

"She has every episode on tape, you know. Mhm."

Things are a blur after that. I have a vague recollection of grabbing my mother's shirtsleeve and pulling her away from the cashier as I launched into a sprint for the door.

4.10.2001

Well, Whadya Know

Why do tennis balls feel fuzzy?

Tennis balls aren't completely bald for two reasons. The fuzz
is there, for one thing, to slow it down. You might find that
hard to believe had you ever had to receive a cannonball
serve from John McEnroe, but there you are. It facilitates
rallies by increasing wind resistance and preventing the ball
from leaving the stadium on one bounce.

The fuzz also increases racket control by holding the ball
against the strings for just a fraction of a second longer
than would happen with a smooth ball.

[source: Just Curious Jeeves by Jack Mingo and Erin Barrett]

If all the blood vessels in your body were laid end to end
they would span the globe. But were this done, I doubt that
you would be in the mood to appreciate it.

If surgeons removed one of your kidneys, a lung, your spleen,
much of your liver, and more than half your intestines, you
could still live. But it wouldn't make you the best doubles
partner for tennis.

[source: 2201 Fascinating Facts by David Louis]


Hallelujah, Praise the Lord and Pass the Advil!!

Hungover.net rates your favorite poison, allows you to test your memory and win a t-shirt and offers a number of cures, from freaky to classic.

Could this be My Left Foot?

What sounds like science fiction was all too real for Dawn Becerra, who found a parasitic worm lodged in her brain after eating a pork taco while vacationing in Mexico.

I get a daily and a weekly horoscope e-mail from astrocenter.com. I read this in my weekly horoscope when I got into work this morning:

"Mars sextiles Uranus on Tuesday"

!!

I better watch my back today.

4.08.2001

"Together, Wendy, we can live with the sadness, I'll love you with all the madness in my soul..."

I watched the Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band concert on HBO last night. It was exceptional, but can I just tell you how supremely weird it was to see The Sopranos's Sylvio (Steven Van Zandt) up there on stage rockin' out in his full Rock 'n Roll Pirate Regalia? Springstreen lived up to his reputation as the hardest working man in rock 'n roll, and the encore performance of "American Skin" (about the NYPD shooting of Amadou Diallo) was riveting. Especially since the venue was Madison Square Garden.

4.07.2001

Well, Whadya Know

How did that silent "b" get into the word "debt?"

I always had my doubts about silent letters, especially when
a teacher offered to help me remember them with a mnemonic.
Trying to get the spelling of "debt" right made me feel
particularly dumb. In that I may have had something in common
with the people of thirteenth century England, who
couldn't leave well enough alone.

You see the word, which came into English with the Norman
Conquest two centuries earlier, was originally spelled "det."
It came from the French word, "dette," meaning, well, you
know. In jolly Olde England they just loped off the last "e"
and totaled one of the "t's." So far, I like it.

But then the pedants got at it. They did a little research,
discovered that the French word came from the Latin,
"debita," and in the thirteenth century upgraded the English
version. For kids learning spelling, it's been tough going
ever since.
[source: Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins by William and
Mary Morris]


Here are a couple of recent articles from salon.com that I really enjoyed.

In the first, entitled "I Hate TV", a TV critic, same as age me and raised on the boob tube, talks about cutting the cord.

The second, "Faith in the Baby", is a mother's heart-breaking and heart-warming look back on her years raising a mentally retarded son. It's not sappy or sentimental, but it still had me weepy in spots.

Ladies and Gentleman, my new homepage. For now.

4.06.2001

Cutey pie.

And in other Litigious News...

This is unbelievable. The Chicago-based American Italian Defense Association is suing Time-Warner, the company behind HBO and The Sopranos, claiming that "the program violates the Illinois Constitution's guarantee of individual dignity."

The Sopranos is a show about men in the Mafia in Northern Jersey and how their mobster lifestyles affect those around them. The show has never claimed to depict the quintessential American Italian experience.

I feel far more insulted by the American Italian Defense Association that they would imply that I could be so easily influenced and have so little mind of my own that I would think that every single Italian-American is a gangster because I watch The Sopranos.

4.05.2001

I added my DeadAlive commentary to the ex post facto page.

With a new X-Files episode also comes a review from George and Mike, those Xcursions Guys.

My horoscope from The Onion:

Cancer: (June 22--July 22)
You will inspire a disappointing, half-hearted Lifetime Channel original movie after waking from an eight-hour coma.


I knew it!


Okay, I think I have found a new favorite site! Filmwise looks like the ultimate site for a movie freak like me. And it looks like they have some great quizzes, especially the Invisibles. I'm going to waste some precious time there.

"The Mission of Break the Chain is to educate people about the e-mail chain letters circulating on the 'net, share the facts, give our interpretations, and provide the tools and information people will need to make their own decision about the validity of a message. "

The "Currently Circulating Chains" section looks to be pretty extensive - I'll have to check it out in more depth when I get a chance. And the awards section looks like it might be pretty entertaining, as well.

As I was passing the kitchen door last night, I noticed that the motion-activated light was on out on the deck. That always spooks me. I walked over to door to look outside and there was half of my garbage, strewn across the deck. I looked around, figuring I'd scared off a raccoon, and then I saw her - the prettiest little black cat. I tapped on the window and she looked up at me and then ran away down the stairs. I should have put some food out on the porch for her, but all the usual excuses came into my head... once I start feeding her she'll be mine and I already have 2 old cats and who wants to be a single woman living in an apartment with her sister and 3 cats and besides Winnie would not abide another cat in the house, and... I never did put food out for her and now I feel like a complete sh*t. I'm pretty sure she belongs to the farm next door, but I'll keep my out for her in the future.

4.04.2001

Red has updated GeekSpeak with episode commentary on the latest X-Files episode, "DeadAlive". Thanks, Red!

Here I come, to save the daaaay!!

Well, Whadya Know

Why do we say that someone who has withdrawn a statement has
"recanted?"

Those of us who admire the grape know the word "decant" as a
fancy-shmancy way to say, "pour the wine." And I must tell
you that I've said a lot of things after I've decanted that I
had to recant - put them back in the bottle, so to speak.

But the meaning under intense scrutiny today has to do not
with sipping but with singing. It's based on the Latin
cantare, "to sing." The sense conveyed by recant is that you
have sung out certain things you should not have, and now you
must take them back. I've tried to picture this and I always
come up with an image of someone literally eating his or her
words.
[source: Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins by William and
Mary Morris]


The fastest wind speed ever recorded is 318 mph in one of the May 3,
1999 Oklahoma tornadoes?
[source: USA Today]


The shortage of affordable housing in New York City has often
forced people to accept living quarters far short of ideal.
But the house at 75 ½ Bedford Street in Greenwich Village,
really takes the cake: it's 9 ½ feet wide.

The dimensions may have created some problems, but at least
it hasn't induced narrow-mindedness. Residents have included
poet Edna St. Vincent Millay and actor John Barrymore.
[source: The Book of New York Firsts]



4.03.2001

Random Quote:

"A man who fears nothing is a man who loves nothing. And if you love nothing, what joy is there in your life?"
~Sean Connery as King Arthur, on the TV tonight

4.02.2001

Well, Whadya Know
(btw, the corny humor is not mine)

Who came up with the idea of "Seeing Eye dogs" for blind
people?

During World War I a doctor at a German hospital was called
away from the blind patient he was treating. The doctor left
his German shepherd with the patient and upon his return
noticed the positive way that man and dog were interacting.
The physician reasoned that such dogs could be trained to
assist blind people and set about to teach the animals to do
just that.

This might have remained a local phenomenon had not Dorothy
Eustis, a wealthy American dog trainer, heard of these guide
dogs (the proper term). She hired some of the German trainers
and set up an institute in New Jersey to make this use of the
dogs widespread.

Guide dogs undergo several months of training. Fortunately
they are not yet required to take the Scholastic Aptitude
Test to qualify for the course.


[source: Reader's Digest Book of Facts]

The names of the three wise monkeys are: Mizaru (See no evil); Mikazaru
(Hear no evil); Mazaru (Speak no evil).


[source: about.com]

If you stand at the equator you will spin at about 1,000
miles per hour because of the Earth's rotation. On the other
hand, even if you're just lying on a chaise lounge in your
own backyard, there are some stiff tropical drinks that will
do the same for you


[source: The Joy of Trivia by Bernie Smith]


Okey doke, all the updates have been made. I'm pretty sure I got everything.

New color scheme on the page, as you can see (I hope!). I was bored with the old one. Now I have to update the rest of the site. Ugh.

HBO's Autopsy page has a link up for April's FAQ, and there are some pretty good questions and answers. Just in case you needed some background info for that crime novel you're writing.

Oh, and there's also a link to an Interactive Casebook. I first read that as "interactive cookbook". Ew.

"Look through 20 winning images from the prestigious Pictures of the Year competition and pick your favorite."

My favorites: 1, 9, 13 and 17.



My sister Sheila and her friend Adrienne went to .Opening Day at Yankee Stadium today, via tickets won at a happy hour. I hope they wore their woolies - it never got above 45 degrees today.

After reading this article about the effect of Mozart's music on people who suffer from epilepsy, I was prompted to go to the Epilepsy Foundation website to learn more.

I was epileptic as a child. I had what I now know are called "simple partial seizures" and took 4 phenobarbitol a day. Reading about my particular form of epilepsy, I realized that I was probably still experiencing seizures well into my teenage years, even though I had a clean EEG and was taken off the phenobarb when I was 13. (I was weaned off the pills until I was 16). They weren't as debilitating, but I would have these weird sensory experiences at times, mostly when I was trying to fall asleep, that would scare the crap out of me. Now I know what they were. And to contact a doctor if I ever do experience them again.

It's not east growing up with epilepsy - you are limited in so many ways, unable to participate in sports and other physical activity, the interruptions to take your medication, the need to inform everyone every time you go somewhere without your parents that you are epileptic - but the most difficult part of having epilepsy is confronting and dealing with the ignorance that surrounds it and how that ignorance affects how people treat you. If you get a chance, please take the time to go to the Epilepsy Foundation site and read a bit about it. Thanks.

Crazy chimps! I would prefer it if they weren't in captivity, but this is a pretty funny story.

"Morning. You know what's weird? I'm buzzing around here this morning and I notice that my clock is an hour slow. I wonder why."

"It was daylight savings this weekend, Mommy."

"No! Now how did I miss that?"
~this morning on the phone

4.01.2001

I found out what the publishing problem is - now I'm just waiting see what the fix will be.

That plane's dustin' crops where there ain't no crops.

I had the best of intentions last night - I was going to get to bed at a reasonable time so that the loss of that hour wouldn't be felt so keenly. Once again I was thwarted in another of my attempts at self-discipline, this time by the television. I was channel-surfing, making one last round before shutting it off (just in case, you know), when I was stopped dead in my tracks by one of the most indelible movie images of our time: the crop-duster attack scene from Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest, probably one of the best movies Hitchcock made. How could I go to bed now?

I'm having some difficulties publishing since the blogger upgrade. I post 3 entries, but blogger only publishes one of them. Hmm. I'm working on it.

Colombian advertisers sink even lower than I thought possible. Or maybe they just haven't got the subtlety part down yet.

It's Daylight Savings Time of year again around here. Don't forget to set those clocks ahead!