This reminds me of the Indians remote reservation in autumn who asked their new Chief if the winter was going to be cold or mild. Since he was an Indian Chief in a modern society, he had never been taught the old secrets, and when he looked at the sky, he couldn't tell what the weather was going to be. Nevertheless, to be on the safe side, he replied to his tribe that the winter was indeed going to be cold and that the members of the village should collect wood to be prepared. But also being a practical leader, after several days he got an idea. He went to the phone booth, called the National Weather Service and asked, "Is the coming winter going to be cold?" "It looks like this winter is going to be quite cold indeed," the meteorologist at the weather service responded. So the Chief went back to his people and told them to collect even more wood in order to be prepared. One week later he called the National Weather Service again. "Is it going to be a very cold winter?" "Yes," the man at National Weather Service again replied, "it's going to be a very cold winter," The Chief again went back to his people and ordered them to collect every scrap of wood they could find. Two weeks later he called the National Weather Service again. "Are you absolutely sure that the winter is going to be very cold?" "Absolutely," the man replied. "It's going to be one of the coldest winters ever. "How can you be so sure?" the Chief asked. The weatherman replied, "The Indians are collecting wood like crazy."

Some people can tell what time it is by looking at the sun. But I have never been able to make out the numbers.

You might want to see this offering from Princess Natalie titled The Society to Prevent My Employment (http://egomania.nu/causes/indexsoc.html). She has set up an easy to click options page including $5 to $250 donations through Paypal with your credit card and a wish list at Amazon.com. $1473.05 so far. She also has a list of donations other than cash such as an invitation to a keg party in Pa., pregnancy test, 21 empty promises, and misc. death threats.

As I watch another stupid decision by another stupid California court on tv, or another frivolous lawsuit where one surfer recently sued another surfer for "taking his wave", I must remind myself of more important things like our country being at war. I only bring this up because there is too little focus, in my opinion, on what our armed services are dealing with in the world. For an update, check out USA Today's war page at http://www.usatoday.com/graphics/news/gra/gattack/index.htm, where they keep a running tab on all our activities worldwide at any given time.

Think your job stinks? Great, send in your submission to The Official Site of the Search for the Worst Job in America (http://www.worstjob.com). There are some tough ones listed, but I figured squeeze mop pusher at the local sex theater would have to win the day.

Ever heard of Ambrose Bierce? Me either, but anyone who had the brains to write in the late 1800s the definition of Dictionary as "A malevolent literary device for cramping the growth of a language and making it hard and inelastic" might be worth learning more about. Go to http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Cafe/1131/bierce.html for more on this interesting, if eccentric fellow. Reminds me of a quote attributed to Winston Churchill stating that the British and Americans were separated by a common language. And a lot of water.

Some might think I'm being a bit on the down side today, but I think you'll see that I'm a mere lightweight compared to those at the Cynic's Sanctuary (http://www.i-cynic.com). Their site includes a Hall of Fame highlighting histories greats like the aforementioned Ambrose Bierce, Mark Twain ("If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man."), Oscar Wilde ("Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes." though there are many more), WC Fields (when asked if he liked children, replied "when they're properly cooked"), and Groucho Marx ("I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member!"). I can live with that.

I hope your week goes well. Stop and tell me about it at [email protected] or our new website at http://surf.to/nethotspots. I’ve completely redone everything on it. You can now check out all our listings without all that annoying reading or check out the start of what I hope will be a growing and useful list of Lexington, Henderson County and Tennessee based sites. I want to thank all those that have supplied links. I’ve been amazed at all the sites people have on the internet from here. If you would like your site added to the list, please let me know and I’ll get them on there. Meanwhile, let me know what you think of it and especially, anything that doesn’t work properly. There are a couple of popups, but they aren’t mean ones. If you need help finding a popup stopper, check out the Tips & Tricks pages for a pretty good look at what is available, most for free, and where to get them.

Until next week, take care.