What a Loser

So, here I am, all set with my vacation plans, got the time off, etc., and can you believe I can't find a single soul to go away with me?? Oh, how sad!

Well, consider this an open call for a vacation companion - anyone interested in spending a week in a cabin way up on the coast of Maine from 9/15 through 9/22? ;)

According to Humans For Sale, I am worth about $1,423,040.00. I don't make it into the 50 most expensive females, and I am actually below the average cost of a female, but I was thinking...I will be without a job in about a month, and $1.4 million is an awful lot of money...

[link courtesy confessionalism]

Ooo, I love this song...

...that's when Billy Joe McAllister jumped o-o-ff the Tallahachee Bri-i-dge...

Remember that curse I told you about? The one where those Greek monks put the whammy on an entire village, dooming them all to a century of sleepless nights? Well, looks like the monks have finally relented.

"Presenting his findings here Sunday at the annual meeting of the American Chemical Society, Antonucci explained that, in lab studies using enamel from cow's teeth, ACP effectively reversed the erosive process that causes cavities. The compound does this by releasing calcium and phosphate ions that ``in the right proportions, can form the natural mineral that is found in teeth and bones,'' Antonucci explained."

Do Over!!

I just checked the answers to last week's Invisibles and I see that my score was actually 7 out of 8, not 6 out of 8. I typed in "Something About Mary" instead of "There's Something About Mary." Picky picky ;).

Head over and check out Invisibles #38 before the boys get too big for their britches - it seems Entertainment Weekly will be featuring them in their upcoming double-issue. Keep your eye peeled.

Oh, how gruesome.

And what be your name, swabbo?

I know you've all been dying to know what your pirate name is; this Pirate Name Generator will finally put your mind at ease.

Captain Anne Bonney, signing off. Arrrr!

[link courtesy usr/bin/girl]

"He'd been calling himself Michael Scott for a while, but since that name was already taken on the British actors' trade union's list he had to come up with a new name. And quick too, he was standing in a phone booth in Leicester Square with his agent waiting on the line! Years later, in an interview by Barry Norman, he recalled the moment: "I just looked through the trees, at the Odeon Leicester Square [Cinema], it just said Caine Mutiny. So, I just said Caine. If I'd gone to the Leicester Square Theatre, I'd have been called Michael A Hundred and One Dalmatians!"

Excellent fan site.

A supermarket chain is considering renaming one of the nation's favourite puddings to save men from blushing when they buy it.

They've just thought of this now?

Connecticore

If you had asked me yesterday if Connecticut had a music scene, I would have replied, "If you consider the Jazz Festival in snooty Litchfield a music scene, then yes, I suppose we do." Imagine my surprise, then, when I read this New York Times article. Could good old Meriden, until now known mostly for its mall, actually give Seattle or Minneapolis a run for their respective money? I doubt it, but kinda cool just the same.

Headline of the day:

"Smiley the Clown Found Guilty of Sodomy."

Site Changes

Sorry for all of the recent changes, but I haven't really been all that happy with the design of this page lately. I think I've got it where I want it (practically back the way it used to be). Now I just have to work on content!

I just love this picture.

Six Feet Under


image courtesy hbo.com

I'm hooked on another show - HBO's Six Feet Under. I missed portions of the earlier episodes, but once the series hit its mid-season (around episode 6), I was hooked. I especially love the way the characters' true selves have been slowly revealed to us over 13 episodes, as opposed to shoved down our throats immediately. I am so glad I gave this show a chance. As messed up as the Fischers, et al are, I have so much invested in them now that any failure they may experience will be devastating to me, as a viewer. Moriarty, from Ain't It Cool News, has written a full-season review. I disagree with him on some points, but overall I think he expresses himself very well, and he is of an opinion similar to mine.

[if you haven't watched any of the shows and don't want to know anything about them, then I would skip the review]

Terry Do? More like Terry, Don't!!

The way life should be.

Since I'm staying at my job until Sept 30, I still have 5 vacation days coming to me (a week). I could be a responsible adult and save them and receive the pay upon my departure, but I won't. I'm going to take the week and head up to our cabin on the coast of Maine. I will surely need to get away, and I don't expect to get any more paid vacation time until at least a year from now. So why not take advantage of it while I can, right? Besides, I need a pleasant diversion in the midst of all this uncertainty.



More than you ever wanted to know about Maine:

Capital: Augusta
Population: Approximately 1.2 million
Gemstone: Tourmaline
Fossil: Pertica quadrifaria
Cat: Maine Coon Cat
Insect: Honeybee
Animal: Moose
Flag: The coat of arms of the State of Maine is placed on a blue field of the same shade of blue in the flag of the United States. Adopted by the Legislature of 1909.
Motto: Dirigo (I lead)
Tree: White Pine, adopted by the Legislature of 1945.
Floral Emblem: White pine cone and tassel (Pinus strobus, linnaeus). Adopted by the Legislature of 1895.
Bird: Chickadee (Parus atricapillus) Adopted by the Legislature of 1927.
Fish: Landlocked Salmon

What a catch, huh?

When pigs fly, you say?

Now why didn't Mulder think of this...

Larry Bryant, 62, filed the suit in state court here on June 5, the day before the anniversary of the Allies' D-Day invasion during World War II. Bryant filed on behalf of all people of the planet Earth and also Citizens Against UFO Secrecy (CAUS), a sky-watching group based in Scottsdale, Ariz.

I'm playing with CSS now (cascading style sheets), so bear with me if things go wonky on you.

Considering my immediate need for comic relief, I thought it would be fitting to re-visit The Secret Diary of Alan Greenspan. Some of you may remember me mentioning this site previously - if not, get thee over there!

And while you're at it, take a look at another Nabobs offering - Martha Stewart's Erotic Journal. 'Nuff said.

[the above contains adult material - you've been warned so don't blame me if you become a wanton hussy]

Run, piggies, run!

Oh, pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease...

Your eyes are not playing tricks on you - I'm playing with the layout and design.

It's funny sometimes how life will sneak up on you, tap you on the shoulder politely and knock you on your unsuspecting ass before you even get a chance to see what's coming.

Actually, I suppose on some level I did see this coming. Denial is a strong suit of mine. I was informed yesterday morning, upon return from my vacation, that due to re-organization of the Firm, my position will be eliminated effective October 1, 2001. Simple as that.

Anyone need a 37-year-old who wants to work in computers, but who knows a little bit about a lot of things but not a lot about any one thing? Time to go back to school, methinks. God, this sucks. But it's also an opportunity, right? An opportunity to finally get out there and do something different, exciting...scary.

Another funny thing about life...without your knowledge it lays down safety nets for you, giving seemingly innocuous events a greater meaning, or altering the significance of others. My mother moved in with me a couple of weeks ago; when I first heard the news yesterday, this was a burden. This could not have happened at a worse time, now that we're supporting her as well as ourselves. But then this morning, as she kissed and hugged me goodbye, told me she loved me and that everything was going to be okay, I couldn't imagine what I would do if she wasn't there to prop me up.

Onward and upward, as they say.

"Invented by religion, enforced by the state, and cashed in on by the psychiatric community, guilt is what keeps society from completely unraveling. Yet our culture is rife with politically correct apologists telling us to let go of the shame that binds us, and to treat our mistakes as learning experiences that we have to "heal" from and "put behind us" as quickly as we can. Well, that's just bullshit. If you do something wrong, you should feel guilty about it. Guilt is the pruning shears that society developed to prevent you from growing into an even bigger asshole than you already are. Sorry, I feel bad that I said that."

Publishing problem fixed. My FTP server has a new IP address, apparently. News to me.

"If it feels good, do it: a rallying cry of the '60s and the root of a lot of really awful parenting. Jackson may have been admirably comfortable with his body, but like many children of hippie parents, he was in the dark about some very basic social rules, such as the one that says don't jack off in public. "

Testing, 1, 2, 3....

Blogger is poop.

Hehe, good one.

link courtesy brainsluice

I seem to be having some publishing trouble.

Man, what a day this has been. More on that later.

Well, Whadya Know

Just how does a Venus flytrap eat dinner?

A native of the Carolinas, the Venus flytrap grows in soil that lacks the nitrogen it needs. Enter the nitrogen-rich fly. And enter he does at the top of the foot-high plant where there are leaves that resemble two hinged lobes, usually open in a mouth-like array. On their surface are sensitive hairs. The fly lands on a hair, triggering the leaves to close, holding him prisoner. The plant digests the fly with fluids it secretes through the leaves.

[source: The World Book Encyclopedia]

Why does the shower curtain get sucked in toward you when you shower?

Until recently, we didn't understand the process, but now we do. David Schmidt, professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Massachusetts, took a $28,000 computer software model of spraying liquids and applied it to his mother-in-law's bathtub. Two weeks and 1.5 million calculations later, he discovered that: The water from the shower spray slowed down as it fell, the result of hitting the air. This process caused the air to become turbulent, actually forming a miniature storm system with low pressure at its center. The air pressure outside the shower, now higher than inside it, pushed the curtain in.

[source: The New York Times ]

Why do angels have halos?

Becoming an angel would be quite a feather in anyone's cap, wouldn't it? Well, that's something like what the artists who originally depicted angels had in mind. Many of the customs and much of the iconography of our great religions were adapted from paganism. In the case of angelic halos, the source was sun worship. People who worshipped the sun emulated its rays by wearing rings of feathers on their heads. That would be too tacky for angels, so they were painted with actual rays of light.

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

Makeup Quiz

While I was away, Filmwise posted two more Invisibles Quizzes...

[you can find the answers to quiz #35 here]

Invisibles #36 - I Wanna Be A Cowboy is a goodie, and since we're a week late, you get instant gratification when you submit your answers - the solutions will appear on the same page as your score.

Invisibles #37 is this week's quiz, and once again I scored 6 out of 8. Good Luck!

Back Home

I'm home! Vancouver was wonderful, as usual, and I'll be back soon with all the news that's fit to print, and hopefully I'll be able to post some pictures by the end of the week. I hope everyone had a good week!

"Paul says he plans to chop off his lower legs himself - with a DIY guillotine - live on the internet as a pay-per-view event. "

Overheard in Auckland, New Zealand... "Am I the only one who hears that constant buzzing noise?"

Invisibles!

Better late than never, right? You can find the top scores and answers to last week's quiz here. And Invisibles #35 is waiting for you...

Oh, what the hell...

How about a song?

Reporter
Hello, everyone, this is your action news reporter with all the news
that is news across the nation, on the scene at the supermarket. There
seems to have been some disturbance here. Pardon me, sir, did you see what happened?

Witness
Yeah, I did. I's standin' overe there by the tomaters, and here he
come, running through the pole beans, through the fruits and vegetables,
nekkid as a jay bird. And I hollered over t' Ethel, I said, "Don't
look, Ethel!" But it's too late, she'd already been incensed.

Chorus
Here he comes, look at that, look at that
There he goes, look at that, look at that
And he ain't wearin' no clothes

Oh, yes, they call him the Streak
Look at that, look at that
Fastest thing on two feet
Look at that, look at that
He's just as proud as he can be
Of his anatomy
He goin' give us a peek

Oh, yes, they call him the Streak
Look at that, look at that
He likes to show off his physique
Look at that, look at that
If there's an audience to be found
He'll be streakin' around
Invitin' public critique

Reporter
This is your action news reporter once again, and we're here at the gas
station. Pardon me, sir, did you see what happened?

Witness
Yeah, I did. I's just in here gettin my car checked, he just appeared
out of the traffic. Come streakin' around the grease rack there, didn't
have nothin' on but a smile. I looked in there, and Ethel was gettin'
her a cold drink. I hollered, "Don't look, Ethel!" But it was too
late. She'd already been mooned. Flashed her right there in front of
the shock absorbers.

Chorus
He ain't crude, look at that, look at that
He ain't lewd, look at that, look at that
He's just in the mood to run in the nude

Oh, yes, they call him the Streak
Look at that, look at that
He likes to turn the other cheek
Look at that, look at that
He's always makin' the news
Wearin' just his tennis shoes
Guess you could call him unique

Reporter
Once again, your action news reporter in the booth at the gym, covering
the disturbance at the basketball playoff. Pardon me, sir, did you see
what happened?

Witness
Yeah, I did. Half time, I's just goin' down thar to get Ethel a snow
cone. And here he come, right out of the cheap seats, dribbling, right
down the middle of the court. Didn't have on nothing but his head.
Made a hook shot and got out through the concessions. And I hollered up
at Ethel, I said, "Don't look, Ethel!" But it was too late. She'd
already got a free shot. Grandstandin', right there in front of the
home team.

Chorus Witness
Oh, yes, they call him the Streak Here he comes again.
Look at that, look at that Who's that with him?
The fastest thing on two feet Ethel? Is that you, Ethel?
Look at that, look at that What do you think you're
He's just as proud as he can be doin'? You git your
Of his anatomy clothes on!
He's gonna give us a peek

Oh, yes, they call him the Streak Ethel! Where you goin'?
Look at that, look at that Ethel, you shameless
He likes to show off his physique hussy! Say it isn't so,
Look at that, look at that Ethel! Ethelllllll!!!
If there's an audience to be found
He'll be streakin' around
Invitin' public critique

~ Ray Stevens, "The Streak"

Yeah, ah did.

"Presti was arrested early Wednesday after he was spotted, nude, filling up his sport utility vehicle at a service station on Route 7. "He thought it was a good thing to do, considering the weather," Sgt. Mark Blanchette said. "

Hooligans-in-Training.

New Do

I got my hair done this afternoon, and I must say, I like it! I sort of look like Rob Thomas now, which probably isn't so good since I'm a girl, but what the hell.

Miller Rant

Dennis Miller lets loose on Sex and Washington, D.C.:

"Now, I don't believe there's any danger of a sex scandal with our current administration. President Bush not only appears to be deeply in love with his wife, he thinks "fetish" is something you crumble on top of a Greek salad."

Sign outside the bank next door: 113 degrees

Now, I know that can't be right since if it was, people would be flopping around on the sidewalks like sizzling strips of bacon, but still...

Hot enough for ya??

Good L O R D! For once in my life I am rushing to get to work in the morning and taking my time leaving at the end of the day. I find myself looking for places to stop on the way home so I can sit as long as possible in air-conditioned bliss in my truck. The heat is so oppressive in my apartment in the early evening that anyone who happened to stop by would think that they had arrived at the scene of a Jonestown-like suicide pact, what with all the bodies (animal and human) strewn about the place. Things cooled off a tiny bit by the time I went to bed, where I was actually able to lay a sheet on top of me, feet exposed, of course.

I'm getting my hair done this afternoon - cut and 'chunky' highlights. I need to try to keep some perspective, though, and not let this heat lead me to something drastic, like chopping all my hair off. Wish me luck!

T-shirt spotted this morning:

It's not a beer belly --
it's the fuel tank for a love machine.

They say timing is everything...

Episode II gets a title -- Attack of the Clones. Without the creepy relevance to current events, that has to be one of the worst titles I have ever seen. Ho hum.

Whoa!! Eddie who??

Clone Wars

This is not the place, and I'm certainly not person, for a thoughful debate on the ethics of cloning. But I thought I'd make note of today's announcement by a "team of reproductive specialists" that they are about to begin human cloning of 200 test subjects. The sci-fi geek in me is intrigued by the concept, its applications and its ramifications. But I also believe in God, in the human soul, and that there are just some things that we are not meant to do. This scares the crap out of me.

Just because we can, it does not necessarily follow that we should.

Are you a 'Sex and the City' Fan?

I am, and I'm a bit peeved right now. I usually watch the encore showing of Sunday's episode on Wednesday so I didn't see it last night. Apparently there was quite the plot development and I was just thoroughly spoiled by this article's front page headline. Damn.

"Park railings are there for a reason," said Ranger Jeff Kracht, the park's search and rescue coordinator. "Is it worth risking your life and the lives of rescue personnel for a $10 baseball cap?"

I'd be pissed, too.

I'm still alive...kinda.

What a whirlwind the past week has been. I have to apologize for my disappearance. 5 days! Oops.

My mother finally moved in with us this weekend. I feel like I've been preparing for this all summer long. I guess I have. I took last Wednesday, Thursday and Friday off of work and did some preliminary packing/cleaning at her apartment, as well as lining up a storage unit and U-Haul truck. I didn't think my body could take the punishment I gave it this weekend - not only were we moving her out of a second story apartment, it was also about 95 degrees out, with off-the-scale humidity. However, despite a couple of broken fingernails, a nearly broken toe, various bruises and a body so achy that I'm walking like I've got a stick up my a**, I'm doing pretty good today.

Now it's time to look forward to next week's trip to Vancouver. If ever there was a time I needed to get away, this it it!

The Spies Who Came In From Retirement

Two Cold War spies -- one American, one Russian -- meet on a street corner in downtown Washington. They rendezvous in broad daylight, but they're headed to shadowy sides of the city.

Mawwiage. A dweam wiffin a dweam...

This week, Dennis Miller takes on the Institution of Marriage:

"Until recently, television was notorious for romanticizing bachelor-hood, while making vague insinuations about the sexuality of the "unattached woman." Magnum, P.I., got more different ass than a rental car, while Laverne actually had an 'L' sewn onto her sweater." (excerpt)

Hmm.

You know, I just had a thought (believe it or not)...I was reading the NY Post article about Lucy Lawless joining The X-Files in the fall and the notion that she could be playing Mulder's long-lost and supposedly long-dead sister Samantha occurred to me. Yes, they had someone else playing her throughout the course of the series, but she was a clone (or was she?) or alien hybrid or whatever; Mulder hadn't seen her since she was 8 years old - how does he know what she really looks like? Lawless has the right look, I think. And the chance to finally find his sister, whose disappearance was the underlying cause for Mulder's obsession with his search for the "truth", would in my opinion be one of the very few valid storylines they could use to take him away from Scully for such a long period of time, especially now. If she isn't playing Samantha herself, she could be someone who knows something about what really happened to her, starlight be damned.

CodeRed

A computer worm that proliferates on Microsoft operating systems and causes widespread Internet slowdowns could unleash a second and more virulent epidemic on Tuesday, government and corporate anti-virus experts warned.

I suppose the best we users can do is sit and wait and hope that web administrators have taken the necessary precautions on their web servers.

X-Files Casting News

This, I'm excited about. Any information regarding Lawless' new character is being kept hush-hush, per usual, but since she's appearing in the first two episodes of the season, I'm going to assume that she has something to do with Mulder's departure. Or at the very least has knowledge of why he leaves. I wonder if she's going to be a new bad guy. There would be a weird sort of symmetry to that - Lucy Lawless attended the acting school run by William B. Davis, who of course played the Cigarette Smoking Man until his untimely (and unaccepted by this viewer) death at the end of the seventh season.

Only in New York. Unfortunately.

A Cunning Climber, Armstrong Joins the Gods of Cycling.

I'm not a huge sports fan, but following his story and sharing in his victories has been a blast.

It's Time For Invisibles Again.

The new qiuz is up, and so are last week's answers and top scores. I found this week's to be a bit more challenging than most, but I still managed my usual score. How boring of me.

Well, Whadya Know

Why do they play "Taps" at military funerals?

Taps was originally used in the military only to end the day. It took on its additional, more solemn function during the American Civil War. Traditionally, a soldier's funeral included the firing of a three-shot salute. The Civil War produced fatalities wholesale, and the military usually lacked the means to ship the bodies home. This led to funerals on or near the battlefield after the shooting stopped. Firing a salute might have been misinterpreted by the foe as a resumption of hostilities, so Taps, with its evocation of day's end, was substituted. The custom has survived along with the rifle salute.

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

Who built the first bathrooms, and where?

Bathrooms actually come from a place famous for its pipes, but of another kind: Scotland, known more for bagpipes than plumbing. The place was the Orkney Islands, off the Scottish coast, ten millennia ago, where some nameless individuals finally took a stand for comfort. They left their mark in the annals of latrinery by throwing together a primitive drain system that carried wastes directly from their huts to the local stream – the first in- house outhouse. It would take another 10,000 years for folks to notice that this created as many problems as it solved, waste-wise.

[source: Extraordinary Origins Of Everyday Things by Charles Panati]

ain't I a stinkah?

Guess who's 51 years old today? Mr. Bunny made his debut in 1940 in the Warner Bros. cartoon, "A Wild Hare", making the world safe for wise-crackin' transvestite rabbits around the world. I would love to have a DVD of Bugs Bunny cartoons - is there such a thing? Nevermind how old I am. I prefer to think that I have an appreciation of classic pop culture. A pop culture connoisseur, if you will. So there.


image courtesy cartoonnetwork.com

Silly Quiz!

Anyone up for a meaningless Emode quiz? I just took their Passion Predictor Test and here are my (corny) results:

You're a Synchronized Swimmer!

What could be more comforting than moving in lockstep with your partner? Living in a permanent state of "we" warms the cockles of the heart.

In the words of Joe Cocker's immortal ballad, "Love lifts you up where you belong." It makes you feel alive and brings joy to your lover, too. When you and your honey are on cloud nine, life couldn't be sweeter. The rewards of caring so much pay off again and again.

But, there is a rub here: Do you get little anxious when your sweetie is out of your sight? If you don't get a call when you're supposed to, do you worry that perhaps something's wrong?

If you're feeling unappreciated or taken for granted, your insecurities can make you a little needy. Sure, you've got a lot of love to give. But is it possible that you have a tendency to lose yourself in relationships? The best pairings always happen when two whole people come together as equals. So take care of yourself first before you worry about your partner.

How you rate:

Intimacy: 6
Being your fabulous self does come at a price. When you're devoted to caring, giving, and listening to others, sometimes you need a little quiet time with number one. That's definitely not a bad thing, as long as your sweetie-pie doesn't feel shut out. Maybe it would help to offer a little reassurance before retreating to your cave. That way the one you love won't misinterpret your withdrawal.

Passion: 7
In the endless battle between the mind and heart, you probably lean toward leaving the boring one behind (yes, that's the head). Throw in some candles, chocolates, and a dash of Kama Sutra, and you're right at home. You set the temperature to sizzling — that's just one of the reasons why you thrive in romance. So until you hear otherwise from the doctor, we say keep up the good work.

Commitment: 6
Maybe you're not exactly dreaming of an idyllic fairy tale wedding, but you just might have secretly entertained the idea of a little house with a picket fence. Maybe you've even stared wistfully at couples with baby strollers passing by on a Sunday afternoon. That's what's so great about you — you understand the value of maintaining and nourishing your relationship. Ahh, it's all so romantic.

How passionate are you?

Soprano's fans, listen up...

From TVGuide Online:

TVGO: Speaking of the show returning, there are reports that the new season won't begin until Sept. 2002. That's a joke, right?
Chase: It's a possibility. I'm actually here [in Los Angeles] to talk about it this week with HBO. I think they would rather it start sooner. I've been away, so I don't really know what it is they want. I'm sure they'd rather it went on sooner, but I haven't gotten any heavy pressure from them.

Oy.

Monkey Business



Tomorrow is opening day of the new Planet of the Apes movie. Woohoo! I am really excited about this. The original movie is a favorite of mine because it brings with it memories of watching it alongside my father, several times. That, and I just think it's cool. Description of the new movie from the official site:

Planet of the Apes depicts an upside down world - a brutal, primal place where apes are in charge and humans scavenge for subsistence, hunted and enslaved by the tyrannical primates. The sudden appearance of one man, alien to the present order and unaffected by its oppression, serves as a challenge to the status quo and a catalyst for revolutionary social change.

Sounds like the old one. Aside from having seen the original film, I'm spoiler-free. I saw something online today, at abcnews.com, I think, that the ending has been leaked. Why? I just don't understand. I'll be interested in seeing what Tim Burton has done with this story. I am a huge fan of his, and have yet to be disappointed with anything he's done. Well, not seriously disappointed.

Check out Project A.P.E. if you get the chance. Looks like some neat bit of marketing on the part of the film's studio (there is a link to Project A.P.E. from the official site).

And in a related story...cheeky monkey!

What a remarkable photograph.

Say Hi to Gari.

Bizarre

I'm sorry, but this story just leaves me speechless.

"The Southernmost, Frost-Free, Tropical city in the continental United States. Without a doubt Key West has the best diving, snorkeling, fishing and boating the continental U.S. has to offer. With a laid back attitude like a summer breeze off the ocean, the people of The Conch Republic know that a comfortable hammock and a frozen margarita are much more fun than rush hour traffic or shoveling snow.

Just a three by five mile Island dotted with historic homes, quaint restaurants and "local's bars" this Island offers a treat for the tired masses that flock here to relax and explore the weird, wild and wonderful sites that make Key West unique. One of the most beautiful sites in Key West are the sunsets. Nightly local's and tourists alike take the stroll down Duval Street to Mallory Square to the Sunset Celebration. There you'll find live entertainers performing music, magic, tight rope walking and other fun and zany antics. You'll also find hand-made souvenirs made by Island craftsman, plus an array of munchies and cold drinks.

From Hemingway to Buffett to the beaches and bars and of course Fantasy Fest, there's something for everyone. So relax, grab a drink and enjoy our little piece of the Web and remember as Jimmy says " the weather is here...wish you were beautiful..."

(quote from www.keywest.com)

I just booked our hotel room in Key West for my brother's wedding in February. :)

That hammock and margarita combo sounds like just my kinda thing.

I can't believe I'm going to say this but, I don't want to leave work. It's a good 95 degrees out there and so humid you might as well try to breathe underwater. And I have no air conditioning at home.

What the...

I just finished reading an article about the end of The Hunger Site (linked to from this page, right). I had no idea this was happening. What a shame that a charity that "attracted about 600,000 visitors a day and brought in more than $4 million in donations for the U.N. World Food Program" has become yet another victim of the dot.com backlash.

Confession time... Since today is the 25th, and the AP article is dated July 21, I suppose it's pretty obvious that I haven't been making my daily visits to The Hunger Site, at least not since July 21. I did go within the last week, though, I swear! I just clicked on my link and this is what I got:

The Hunger Site is undergoing routine maintenance. We are very sorry for the inconvenience. Thank you!

Maybe they're hoping they won't have to stay closed forever?

Now, these guys know how to make the most of a hot summer day.

Mighty Blue Justice!

In a city filled with danger
One man stands in the shadows
Waiting for Evil to rear its ugly head
And feel the power
Of his superhuman noogie!

The Tick. The new show that I am most looking forward to seeing this fall.

It's bleepin' H O T out there this morning. Already. *w e e p*

I don't have much of a view from my fourth floor downtown office. Just the backs and roofs of adjacent buildings. Which is why the butterfly that just flew up to my window was such a pleasant diversion.

More News from Outer Space

"Astronomers involved in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) are broadening their hunt and looking for light signals directed at Earth."

"He vould have an enormous schwanzstucker!"

Not if he was German.

Dennis Miller's Latest

This week, DM takes on Bureaucracy:

"And is there any welter of perdition more soul-destroying than the Department of Motor Vehicles? People go in whistling like Andy Griffith skipping rocks and leave more pissed off than Gary Condit's wife. In exchange for the privilege of operating an automobile, you have to embark on a Hieronymus-Bosch-like odyssey through the dingy, institutional-green, cinderblock-lined bowels of the System at its most wearisome. First you find the line for the people who have appointments, then you wait for them to call your name, then you get in another line for people with your blood type and birth date, then the clerk who's been taking people in your line goes to lunch, so you have to line up at another window, then after several evolutionary epochs, during which innumerable species have arisen, roamed the earth and then succumbed to eventual extinction, you finally reach the front of the line where the whole process culminates in you challenging Death to a chess match."

I wanna see one!

Oops.

I don't think this is what they mean when they say "end with a bang"

Skip the big words, George

His Holiness listens, as young George reads the Lord's Prayer aloud...

Picture 1
Picture 2

Sleepless in Limnos

Those are some awfully vindictive monks.

New Invisibles Quiz

So, how did we all do last week? I got my usual 5 out of 8 when I took the quiz, but now that I look at the answers, I actually got 6 out of 8 (sorta) - I put "Looking for Bobby Fisher" instead of "Searching for Bobby Fischer." Picky! ;-)

This week's quiz, Invisibles #33: Behind the Wheel, is fun. I thought I was going to get them all, but I only got 6. One of these days, I'm going to get a perfect score, as God is my witness and all that...

How'd you do?

Hopeful Retraction

Former Beatle George Harrison has dismissed newspaper stories that he is close to death as untrue and insensitive.

Aauugghh!!

Can you say Holy Heebeejeebees?!

She's a SuperFreak!

Actually, she's not as much of a freak as she thought she was. Who's she? Why she's me, of course.

According to the results,
My Need to be unique: 60% percentile
Need to NOT conform: 31% percentile
Willingness to express dissent: 59% percentile
Overall: 49% Freaky

I guess I'm more of a conformist than I prided myself on being. Darn. Want to know how much of a freak you are? Take the test.

[link courtesy swallowingtacks.com]

Well, Whadya Know

Why does the word "gauntlet" describe both what one runs and what can be thrown down as a challenge?

Although the words are coincidentally the same in each sense, they derive from different languages. The expression running the gauntlet (or gantlet) entered English in the 17th century. This military punishment, in which a soldier had to run between parallel lines of men who beat him as he passed by, comes from the Swedish word gantlope, which means a path or course (not a mammal with horns or a melon.)

On the other hand, throwing down the gauntlet (a glove), originally a challenge from one knight to another is from the Old French word, gantelet, or small glove.

[source: Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable]

Are there any animals that never sleep?

Dolphins can't go to sleep. They are mammals, need to surface to breathe and will drown if they doze off. For eight hours a day dolphins are fully awake, but the rest of the time they're on cruise control. In those 16 hours, half of their brain is asleep for one eight-hour stretch, while the other half snoozes during the next eight-hour shift.

[source: Do Fish Drink Water? By Bill McLain]

Where did people first eat chocolate, and when?

Ccivilization as we know it began about the year 1000 AD in South America when several cultures started to use a bitter concoction made from the cocoa bean in important rituals. Columbus, who also discovered America, made a significant contribution to European culture when he brought this liquid back from the New World. Sweetened, it became "cocoa." By the 17th century, cocoa was the cat's meow among the nobility and was spreading to the lower classes.

Chocolate remained a drink exclusively until the middle of the 19th century, when chocolate candy was developed in Europe. Now if we can just figure out how to smoke it…

[source: Panati's Browser's Book of Beginnings by Charles Panati]

A Good Sequel

Sheila and I went too see Jurassic Park III (flash heavy) today and I'm happy to say I enjoyed it. The sense of wonder and discovery that was present in the first movie is missing since, after all, these CGI monsters are nothing new to us. The movie's makers are aware of this, I think, and what we get is a tight, fast, funny and terrifying 90-minute ride. Great popcorn movie.

I have to mention that we saw a fantastic trailer for the new Spiderman movie. Looks like very cool stuff, but it's not coming out until next summer! No fair.

Ailing Beatle

"The Mail on Sunday said Harrison had told his friend and former producer George Martin... that he does not have long to live."

Silver Reticulan Awards

I don't know how I missed this. AssignmentX (formerly Fandom) has published their Silver Reticulan Awards, drawn from an online X-Files poll. Where was I when the questions were being asked? Regardless, the results are fantastic - probably one of the best online polls I have ever read. And I think it has more to do with the writing style of the author (Tina Stanley, whose column at AssignmentX is Musings of a Cigarette Smoking X-Phile), than the actual results (although I tend to agree with her honorary awards). You'll laugh, you'll cry, and if you're not a fan, you won't know what the hell she's talking about.

The results have been published in three parts:

Part One
Part Two
Part Three

Enjoy, and let me know what you think!

Hepburn Hospitalized

Katharine Hepburn has always epitomized for me what a woman ought to be - independent, smart, feminine, strong-willed, funny and beautiful. She was who I wanted to be when I grew up. Ms. Hepburn, 94, was hospitalized today here in CT. I wish her well.

We have plenty of sex in the library but I'm afraid it's all in books.

Webbys

The 6th Annual Webby Awards were handed out last night and you can see the list of nominees and winners here. Blogger didn't win in the Personal Web Site category, unfortunately; but, the list of winners and nominees is a great source for good stuff on the web and browsing these sites could make for hours of Internet fun.

New Jersey Mystified by UFO Sighting

XF fans take note of the town's name.

Oh, come O N

The start of this past season of The Sopranos, its third, was pushed back from January to March. Those extra three months of waiting were excruciating. What's the word on the date for the start of next season? March of 2002? No.

June 2002. Jesus Mary and Joseph.

Pretty Hip, Huh?

I just took the Weblog Hipness Quiz, and I am happy to report my score was 16:

13-24 : You're pretty hip but you don't care much about popularity. That makes you better than any A-Lister.

[link via swallowingtacks.com]

Zachary

Invisibles!

Filmwise has the new Invisibles quiz up. And you can find the answers to last week's quiz here

Awwww.