I don't know what's better: my acquisition of this long lost treasured bit of vinyl or this post by Bobby Burgess. Oh, and Bobby: next time, go for the neck.
Big job interview tomorrow, and thank you for your support...
GODLEY, Texas (Reuters)
An argument over who was going to heaven and who was going to hell ended with one Texas man shooting another to death with a shotgun, police said on Monday.
Did I forget to mention how very religious TX is?
Oh, I forgot to even post my stories and photos, you say? Heh.
There's just so many, it's a bit of an organizational nightmare.
Coming soon to a blog near you. I promise.
This personification of wildlife is getting ridiculous:
She also questioned what reputable animal park would now take in the inbred cubs.
Stephen Fry on Writing. And "borrowing."
I bet Dumas pinched the story, too. If we're talking process incidentally, Dumas's publishers paid him by the line. Can you imagine anything so foolish? This is why his work is crammed with dialogue.
"Pass the mustard."
"Eh?"
I said, "Pass the mustard."
"You want some custard?"
"No, mustard."
"Oh."
Soon I had created a vast, hot dusty area to perform my wacky experiments.
I dubbed this area "the playa".
TIPS Chalking
To combat this menace, we've instituted Operation TIPS-TIPS.
If you spot somebody you believe may be a TIPS informant, do two things:
1. Mark the informant... place the mark of the all-seeing eye on their home, vehicle or person.
2. Register them here.
Coal Miners Rescued After 3 Days Trapped in Mine
OK, you know what? That is a miracle.
Today is the big Blogathon for charity.
I'm not running in it, just cheerleading.
I'm rooting for Michele and Team kd and Skarlet. Michele even gets some pom-pom action.
Black Sabbath songs covered by medieval music band Rondellus
My birthday is in three and a half weeks. Grr, I can't put it on my Amazon wishlist.
Attention Wives of Ft. Bragg Special Forces: GET OUT NOW
The string of deaths started June 11 when Sgt. 1st Class Rigoberto Nieves fatally shot his wife, Teresa, and then killed himself in their Fayetteville bedroom. On July 1, Master Sgt. William Wright reported that his wife, Jennifer, was missing. On July 19, he led investigators to her body... On the same day Sergeant Wright was arrested, Sgt. 1st Class Brandon Floyd shot his wife, Andrea, and himself in their Stedman home.. Sgt. Cedric Ramon Griffin was charged with stabbing his estranged wife, Marilyn, on July 9.
Nigerians get high on lizard droppings
This is a social problem as much as it is a medical one.
You know I'm all for mother-daughter bonding, but I think it's time for a new trend.
A lady in Houston ran over her cheating husband four times with his daughter in the car. (It was an accident.)
Meanwhile, a girl and her mom in Ventura tried to kill her father by setting fire to his bed and then attacking him with baseball bats. They wanted to cash in his life insurance policy, with which they planned to fund the girl's singing career, and possibly open a Jiffy Lube.
Woohoo, 
!
Lupita is a girl who is going to go far.
Tow-truck driver Ken Pinkham was the first to see the 2-foot-8, 25-pound Lupita strolling determinedly down Garden Avenue, a short distance from her home.
At 4am. Near the San Jose airport.
Pinkham said Lupita flashed him some dirty looks.
"She kind of, I would best describe it, gave me a don't-mess-with-me kind of look," Pinkham said. Officers gently stopped the girl, who spoke only Spanish. Lupita began yelling and kicked one officer in the groin, Pinkham said. The officers looked in her backpack and found the photo album. They put her in a police car -- prompting her to kick the doors from inside -- checked out the pictures of her house with the blue and white trim, and took her home.
We checked out of hotel this morning, in time for Brendan's 8am conference session, but our flight doesn't leave til 8pm So I'm chilling in this vast atrium in the San Antonio Convention Center, with the .Tower of the Americas right in my face. It's a big phallic trunk with an elevator that shoots up the side, like a vas deferens. Whenever the elevator passes, it feels like you're moving, and you almost audibly mutter "whoah."
Photos coming soon. Like probably tomorrow.
People here are really nice. I made friends with the concessions manager, who wants to write and direct films, and he's all "we really aren't that nice here, I don't know why people say that." I guess if you were from Georgia or some other place famous for its hospitality I could see, but...
Here folks have a mix of New York and English (or some other place with really nice folks) sensibilities: they're very courteous, but efficient - not overly doting - which for me is just supremely perfect. There are no hard sells, just honest hospitality. People are very frank, too. I love that. Even the sleazes don't actually slurp at you until after you've passed, and they either carress you (way too overtly - it's really odd) with their eyes OR chat you up, but never both at the same time.
I kinda like it here. And soon we'll be going home.
Man, I'm gonna miss the Melly.
More convention blogging later. With photos. Oh so many photos.
Mass Circumcision in Kabul
"It takes about five to eight minutes to do each person," an army doctor told Reuters.
"If you want, I would be happy to do you and your colleagues."
Are you interested in this type of story?
If you're an Orange customer you can follow these subjects on your phone.
Wow, that's some special kind of synergy. I mean I guess you might want bestiality news fwded to your cell phone.
Attack of the Eyebrow Eaters
Oh, yeah, eyebrows are known to increase virility. Ew.
Berkeley idealist's ironic death
Right there on Telegraph Ave, in broad daylight. The nicest guy ever buys some pizza for a blind homeless guy, gets him seated, then takes a bunch of quarters out to feed random parking meters, because he's cool that way. A guy suffering from schizophrenia walks up and stabs him. And wipes the blade off on his pants and strolls off.
OK, this is it for me for a while, I'm off to gallivant around San Antonio for a while. I don't expect to have Internet access for almost a week. Sigh...
It'll be good for me! Sure it will! ;)
I added some old photos to my "about" section...
I got an email from someone in upstate NY, today, asking for help identifying the spider in this amazing photograph. Looks like a white crab spider, and what a very clever beastie!
I'm very pleased to serve as a source of spider lore.
Thanks, Chris!
My, that's some fast work.
Police '100 Percent' Sure They Have Samantha Killer
According to court records, Avila was... acquitted after a week-long trial (in 2000), which stemmed from the alleged molestation of two 10-year-old girls, the daughter and niece of his then-girlfriend.
The daughter, identified in court papers only as Catherine, reportedly lived in the same quiet apartment complex as Samantha...
Where's my science project? Um, er, sharks ate it.
USPS to TIPS: S.P.O.R.K. you, buddy.
The Postal Service had been approached by homeland security regarding Operation TIPS; however, it was decided that the Postal Service and its letter carriers would not be participating in the program at this time.
My mail carriers re so not spying on me; they've got spliffs to burn and hotties to chat up. When they think of TIPS, they think of the Peet's and See's gift certificates I leave out at the holidays, not impotent old guys in suits.
Warchalking is good, very good, and I really do hope they do it in San Antonio.
Blogchalking is also cute.So here goes.
Google! DayPop! This is my blogchalk:
English, United States, Berkeley, Gourmet Ghetto, Jessica, Female, 31-35!
Who knew that the jadedju was a neighbor?
PBS CEO Pat Mitchell pointed out to lawmakers Tuesday that it is not PBS, but a federal agency -- the U.S. Agency for International Development -- that is helping to fund Takalani Street, the South African version of Sesame Street, which has just introduced an HIV-positive Muppet character. That was part of Mitchell's response to House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman Billy Tauzin (R-La.). The main thrust of her letter, however, was to assure Tauzin and other concerned House Republicans that "there are no plans to incorporate this character or curriculum into Sesame Street on PBS," and directing them to a July 12 Sesame Workshop statement to that effect.
Serial child molester charged with misdemeanor.
He's a substitute teacher. With a long, documented history of this behavior, in diverse school districts. Let's hope the venue for his sentencing can be "extra horrific circle of hell"
I realized yesterday that I don't have any hot weather clothing that I'd be seen in public in. Today's mission is to solve that problem, then start packing for our trip to the land 100ºF heat and 70% humidity. And floods. And, of course, the hottest thing in San Antonio: Miss Melly.
It happens to be a scorcher, today. It's about 85ºF downtown, and bright. When you look down University Ave to the Bay, though, there's a big ominous pile of fog. Whenever the East Bay / Livermore Valley heats up enough, fog comes in from the Pacific and covers San Francisco, and usually cools Berkeley down, too. But not just yet.
Walking down Shattuck Ave on my way to Crossroads, I ran into The Walking Guy, this older gentleman who I always see walking the streets of Berkeley, who always gives me the thumbs-up sign when we cross paths usually at a distance, in the middle of some tree-lined lane where there's no vehicular traffic, sometimes on opposite sides of a busier road. Today, I encountered him at a right proper intersection with traffic lights and everything, so I walked up and introduced myself. His name is A.O. He said "Oh, hey, you can read my backpack!" and turned to show me a lamintated sign he had clipped to his pack. "Professional listening services. Any time, any problem or gripe, call for rates (something along those lines)" and a phone number. I'm not sure if it was serious or sarcastic - probably the former. Either way, it was pretty cool. We shook hands and continued on our respective paths.
About a half block later, I was overtaken by a ~20ish looking kid with a transparent pink take-out bag slung at his side. It looked like he had a blackened banana in it. A few seconds into my gaze I realized it was a fish. Neat.
Two new and very guilty pleasures in the musical selections department.
What the hell is WRONG with people?!?
Kidnapped Calif. Girl, 5, Found Dead, Police Say
Driving home this morning I saw several groups of tiny kids playing on our lovely-tree-lined-yet-still-urban sidewalks. Usually my primary concern is "don't dart out into traffic!" but more and more it's "where is your supervising adult?!?"
Dammit.
(Of course, the tiny witness did a great job.)
The reporting has been very respectful. The body is Samantha's, they say, not "it's Samantha."
"You're Bubbles? How sweet! Now, go back, take the quiz again and tell the truth this time!"
Asked to apologize, she remains silent
There is simply no way that this court can fashion a sentence that would provide a sense of justice for all that have been affected by it...
San Antonio has been in the news every day since I bought my ticket.
The makers of Old Spice, using a formula that averaged the high temperatures and high humidity of major cities in June, July and August, determined that San Antonio was the sweatiest city...
Melly, I'll see you on Sunday with my waterproof SPF50.
PhotoDay was a success! My shots are over here.
I had an appointment in the Financial District this morning. I was pleased to see that, while it's mostly quiet and underpopulated, its core elements are still in place. There was Frank Chiu, marching up and down Market Street with his tie waving along in his wake, hoisting his "12 Galaxies" sign and (this is new) shouting the text aloud.
After my meeting, I saw him again outside the BART station. I looked up and saw a woman with an old movie camera. "Does that thing have a microphone?" he asked. "No, sorry!" He shrugged and marched a little slower.
GOP Grouchy Over HIV Muppet
Disturbed by the prospect of Sesame Street introducing an HIV-Positive Muppet on its South African versiont, a group of conservative lawmakers has sent a letter to PBS expressing their concern over the appropriateness of such a character and subject matter on public television.
"We look forward to working with you to ensure that only age and culturally appropriate programs air on PBS, which is a mainstay that millions of parents have come to rely upon over the past 35 years," reads the letter, which was obtained by Daily Variety.
Five Republican members of the powerful House Commerce Committee... reminded PBS president Pat Mitchell that Congress has the last word on funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting..
The American Family Association says the character is a means for homosexual activists to influence young viewers.
I am so outraged, I'm reduced to acronyms: OMFG!!! Culturally appropriate? Homosexual agenda? WTF?!? It troubles me that there are people that think that God invented HIV as a punishment to gay people - so deeply Christian that they forget the tenets of their faith, who are also completely ignorant of epidemiology. They also are ready to demonize kids, and those who want to help them (forgetting somehow that pediatric AIDS is as much an epidemic as the adult variety). Isn't there some sort of test you have to pass to run for the Senate? No? OK, let's start with the basics.
Here is how HIV+ babies are made: the same way all babies are. No, Billy, put your hand down; they're not pulled from a cabbage patch. I'm going to have to use the word "sex," now, if that's permissable. Here it comes: babies are made via heterosexual sex. HIV+ babies are made when one of those heterosexual parents is a carrier of the virus. Most of these kids are orphans, as their parents got sick and died. Now, since you are unlikely to pay for their childcare, won't you allow them some quality television?
When 10% of your population is afflicted with a disease, I can't think of anything more culturally relevant than educating kids about it. Especially when SA national health officials (much like our House Commerce Committee) promote nonsense.
9:04 p.m. He's a fast-walkin', girl-followin', house-starin'-at, hangin'-out-in-the-area-for-three-hours kinda traveler with beverage breath and his own way of car-campin' at Arcata's westernmost retail business. She's a cop-callin', freak-describin' innocent passerby lookin' out for her neighborhood... We fight crime!
Sesame Street to Introduce HIV-Positive Muppet
"We want to show that here is an HIV-positive member of our community who you can touch and interact with."
Attention employed Bay Area pals!
My esteemed brother-in-law is organizing a focus group.
Exchange your input for some cash - see more below!
Answers to search queries:
I don't know, I've never chopped one down.
You try getting them to sign model waivers.
There is more to art than just getting naked and dusty.
See, that's not art.
This is so exciting:
A Fossil Unearthed in Africa Pushes Back Human Origins
...the discovery thus seemed to undermine the simplest linear models of hominid evolution. If the earliest hominids like Toumai were directly ancestral to australopithecines like Lucy, Dr. Lieberman pointed out, there would have had to have been two reversals to reach the advanced characteristics of the Homo lineage.
Otherwise, he added, Toumai is ancestral to some other hominids that then gave rise to the Homo species, in which case australopithecines are a side branch outside the human ancestral line.
Really ridiculously bad social science this way:
Young women shouldn't have careers at all, believes Tooley, since paid employment simply diverts them from their "natural priorities" (husband, kids, home) and, what's more, makes them deeply unattractive to young men, who start not only to resent successful women, but are themselves prevented from fulfiling their own ambition - at work, naturally - by having to bother with a domestic life.
Rewrite this bill, changing just a few key words, and outlaw political fund-raisers:
S. 2633 - Reducing Americans' Vulnerability to Ecstasy Act
Oh come on. Access=vulnerability?
Then we're all deadly vulnerable to alchohol, tobacco, caffeine, BGH, pesticides, lithium, and who knows what else. Prohibition is a monumentally stupid idea. Even the Amish know better than to forbid the kids to party.
President and Mrs. Bush, attended St. Ann's Episcopal Church... but they left after communion before the female bishop spoke (and) immediately went fishing. Jenna, wearing a white jacket, for sanctification, landed the prize catch, about a 12-pound striped bass. Her eyes popped out and she broke out of depression in elation over the catch.
Leaving aside the freaky grammar, this story is still shocking. The Bush family goes to church, just to receive communion then bolt outta there before the whole touchy feely "love thy fellow man" Christianity stuff. Nope, they'll just take the promise of salvation, no fellowship, thanks. (I hope they at least put something in the collection basket.) And then they went fishing. So it's like noon, at earliest, when they hit the lake. And >poof< a great big huge fish leaps onto their hook. And Jenna's eyes fall out. $5 says there was a secret service agent swimming under the boat on fish-netting/eye-catching duty.
thanks be to Rubber Nun
Expert Eye Spots a 'Michelangelo' in Old Box
Sir Timothy, 60, is known as a colorful character... As a small child he collected porcelain and was so obsessed that he used to go to bed with his cups and saucers, stroking them to determine by touch, in the dark, whether he could figure out which factories in France — Sèvres, St. Cloud, Chantilly — made what.
Bad Scrabble Hands!
from mimi smartypants, who is back!
Oooh, front page news in the NYT! Tokay geckos and other "mean" pets.
I once had a pair of beloved Tokays. I needed help feeding them. Happily my then-SO was TAing Biology 1A, where students dissected pregnant rats. Liquid nitrogen was always on hand in the lab, so he'd come home with batches of little protein packs for the geckos and we'd just heat them up in boiling water. It was better than feeding them baby mice; I just couldn't get used to that. Very violent beasts, the tokays, but so gorgeous (this one is pissed; when happy they can be powder blue) and with such spooky noisemaking abilities. And really cool fingerpads. But oh, when they'd get loose in the house...
MALAYSIA: STATE ADOPTS ISLAMIC CODE
Islamic hard-liners in the legislature of eastern Terengganu State passed laws allowing amputation of thieves' hands, death by stoning for adulterers and flogging of women who say they have been raped but cannot prove it.
Favorite diversion of the moment: Weezer's Keep On Fishin' video
Black Babies Born to White Couple, bringing a new dimmension to discussions of what it means to be a multiracial (usually also multicultural) family. Typically, the "problem" is one of cultural identity, aggravated by pressure from outsiders' identification with or against your own personal tendencies. Adopted kids of different ethnicities from their parents have been the focus of the past decade; maybe the IVF trend will be a catalyst for broader cultural acceptence.
It's been close to a year since I last used PowerPoint, yet I still find myself explaining the ins and outs, whys and wherefores, pretty regularly. It is assumed that I can teach on how to make PowerPoint do what one wants. The Answer, dear grasshoppers, is that one must do what PowerPoint wants.
Probably 70% of my friends will be working on Monday, and I bet 70% of them will have to use PowerPoint. 70% of those will hate, with every fibre of their beings, that their complex creative minds are thusly engaged in the Cycle of the Lowest Common Denominator, but also fear unemployment.
For that 21%, I offer: Click To Add Title
Mission vs. Marina Mayhem
Among the events: "Best Tattoos Vs. Best Tan"
"Yes, I saw the postings on Craigslist and, absolutely we do" feel unduly impugned, said Amy, a Marina resident who works for a dot-com in the Mission, who was getting into her black Volkswagen Jetta, which she "mistakenly" parked in a handicapped space.
The after-luau was a blast.
Noah Grey makes me teary.
Thanks for the heads-up, annelizabeth.
The plum tree is dropping big juicy purple fruit, so it's time to start a new batch of plum liqueur. That means I should get busy disposing of the last one. Mmmhm, feeling pretty so genteel here: sipping thick cinnamon-y plum liqueur, rocking out to White Zombie (I'm impressionable. see below) and scanning photos from the 70s.*
The dj on the radio is playing cookie monster rock. That always cracks me up. He had a nice hardcore punk rock set going, and now this ridiculous 'rroid rage death metal. Fleshrottier than thou guys, all guttural shouting and somewhat-rhythmic pouding and supercrunchy ex-guitars...
"I will eat your soul in hell, mmm... S is for Soooooooulllll"
They don't sound spooky, they sound like the need a frickin' lozenge.
I sure love my neighborhood.
Our neighbor down the street took it upon himself to throw a block party today. Which is a little weird - as warm and open and friendly and groovy as everyone is here, we're all very private. But I guess we're generous and hospitable too, at least this guy is. He got permits, blocked off the street, set up three grills, a spit, and a deep fryer. Bought a ton of ribs, a couple of lambs, mixed up his own special Hawaiian marinade... The man has a talent for burning meat. And his Nahlins pals did not stop with the oysters and the crawfish.
1/3 the crowd is Hawaiian, half friends he made in New York, New Orleans, and San Diego, and the remainder is neighbors. Besides the 70-something political activist next door, the punk rockers with cell phones from down the block, and our happy host, there were lots of couples-just-a-little-older-than-us with babies. One little guy, Kelani, is a week old. My ovaries are still jumpy from all the baby action over there.
Beer was brought, friends were made, and oh my heavens I am still in pork rib bliss. There was something special in that sauce, something endorphinrific. It's been an hour and I'm still high. Whew. OK, maybe it was the crawfish brains. Whatever, we're going back for dinner.
Crack Found in Shuttle's Pipe Liner
Sigh: Don't pee in the Millenium Falcon, and don't smoke crack on space shuttles!
My horoscope for today says I should take more pictures:
LEO:
>>Friday, July 5
Most people are fairly well acquainted with Einstein and his theory of relativity. They are perhaps less conversant with his equation for prospering or faring well: If A is success in life, then A equals x plus y plus z. Work is x, y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut.
Mr. Kelleher, a theater director, had told the police that he had done it because "he blamed Thatcher for promoting capitalism and endangering the world."
You can probably guess I have no love for Ms. Thatcher, but... Hm.
Really, it was only a matter of time - and not much of it - before that statue was vandalized somehow. One has to admire his use of the pulpit; the prosecutor is stating his case for him, and his defense is "yeah, but that's not criminal." What's more, he knocked the head off the statue without even marring the wall behind it.
...the United States teems with hot-dog subcultures that invest their wienies with a gustatory passion that puts New York's bland pushcart franks to shame.
That's impetus enough for a road trip.
Finally, our inklings about certain damaged loved ones are validated.
UC physics department selling off its vintage equipment
Oooh, I need to get a job so I can go on a shopping spree!
...as punishment meted out by a tribal jury for her brother's supposed affair with a woman from a tribe of higher social standing. The jury ordered four men, including one of the jury members, to rape her. ...Sadly, the Arab world is depriving itself of the creativity and productivity of half its citizens.
Today I replenished my emergency / earthquake bag.
My very good friend, with whom I have done very very dangerous things and who has recent military exp., sent me an email saying "dude." OK, it didn't say that, it said some other stuff. It's posted in "more" so that the more impressionable/prone-to-freakouts among you can skip to the next post, and to minimize the chance of getting a cease and desist from the Powers that Be. If you fall under either of those headings, this post is about my new battery-powered boom box and may all our holiday picnics be filled with hot dogs, Indica Pale Ales, and battery powered tunes. If emails entitled "paranoia-a-go-go" turn you on, read it under "more..."
Market calls for Vivendi break-up
So vindicating. When I tried to help save Flipside/Berkeley Systems, by merging the resources of Sales and Marketing and coming up with a relatively painless and super-efficient revenue pipeline, our obsequious President said Messier vetoed the project. Which project cost almost nothing. And three months later we were toast - "merged with" the upstart competition which had launched after stealing our code. It was tragic, and it didn't even look good on paper. Well, I'm glad it wasn't just me.
I read that headline right after reading this article about two planes colliding over Germany:
Two Pilots Charged with Being Drunk in Cockpit
OK, I know the job is stressful, but that's crazy.
I have friends who are pilots who won't even drink the night before flying. Thank heavens. That's just... I mean. You can jump from a plane stoned, that's fine, but don't fly drunk.
Everyone wants a piece of The Cardhouse Million-Dollar Malt Swindle, but it's not made of toothpicks. Or candy cigarrettes. No really. Stop asking. Or don't, 'cause I so love to read Mr. Simple's snappy answers to such sincerely misguided questions.