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Harvesting items, newsworthy or not
Readingsbluehouse/BeckyBob the Corgi bulletproofpunk Brenda CerebralBrie/Jamie ClutteredLife Undisturbed/Faith Davezilla Don'tMindMe/Kare EricBrooks HooptyLoops HouseGuru Insist/Patti JonSullivan Loungebunny Miguel MizKitty OpineBovine/Elise othercheek/Tina KD ToxicLabRat ParadiseAli Platypus Pop Culture Junk Mail PurpleMoose/Barbara RandomRuminations/Dave reconstructed:mind/Bobbi simplyLee surreally.com/ tomato nation 
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Saturday, December 08, 2001
Preface: I like the Olympics; I like Utah's scenery. But: This one's for Hoopty; it ain't Jackie Chan, but if you want fraud exposed, here it is. Predictably, denials were swiftly forthcoming. Senator Bennett (R-Utah) cited a specially-commissioned GAO report disputing all of this, of course. Regrettably, the full story as printed in the magazine (where I read it) is not posted on the Web; if you want to know more, pick up a copy of the December 10 issue of Sports Illustrated. Friday, December 07, 2001
I dedicate this to all those folks in the Guidance Office in high school (come to think of it, I worked in that office my senior year) who kept telling me I had potential.  Take the What Cat Are You? test by  webkin!To heck with the Twelve Days of Christmas. Count down the entire month, with this Advent Calendar, found via Davezilla.
Whether one likes Amazon or not, it does keep adding features which make the site more useful. The latest addition scales down its site for use by visually-impaired folks. Ads I like during the holidays: the Staples ad, featuring a customer service robot in love with a scanner. That absolutely cracks me up. And the Folger's ad from a few years ago, with the son coming home from college or wherever, making a pot of coffee as his baby sister says "Peter!" in absolute shock. Gets me everytime. Man, am I glad when the docs repaired my severed patellar tendon they used wire, not cartilage! Speaking of treatments, how about the possibility of using a nasal spray to reduce the growing problem of resistance to antibiotics? I shall end with my fantasy about network nightly news broadcasts: Jennings, Brokaw and Rather all come on at the regularly scheduled time, look directly at the camera, and say "Nothing of note occurred today." Amen. "A date which will live in infamy" We could see the missing-man flyover from our back deck. The Arizona memorial is crowded with dignitaries this morning, including about 20 survivors of December 7, 1941. There will also be ceremonies at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl. Thursday, December 06, 2001
Has anyone else looked at the source of these silly things? Those guys in the Physics Dep't. at the Univ. of Sydney have WAY too much time on their hands.
Ok, so the LOTR one was NOT that Physics Dep't. So shoot me. Both of these, by the way, are directly due to the HouseGuru and her seemingly inexhaustible supply of tests! Oh, well. I always did kinda like Theoden, anyway. Does becoming the subject of an op/ed in the NYT mean the ultimate A-List? If so, the Beatles managed it. Lots of coverage of this visit to our shores by WTC widows and children on local news stations. I keep wondering (silently) why the Pentagon and Pennsylvania victims have been seemingly less well-remembered. Sure, the numbers are smaller, but... Speaking of victims, I can only imagine what the folks who worked alongside this guy (for 32 years!) must be feeling. E-mail is 30 years old???? Can that be? And also, should our ability to fact-check on the Web be viewed with alarm, as this story does, or embraced with glee? In a much more serious vein, should we allow our cultural heritage to be trashed by budget cutters/Philistines in the Bush Administration? The Loungebunny has posted the WashPost article about this travesty, too. Anyone wanna dub his/her own voice into Shrek? Buy the DVD. And for all the LOTR fans (if you gotta ask, fuhgeddaboutit), the backstory of being an orc. Also, I wonder if the HouseGuru, in her life as a piece of art at Lascaux, can attest to the lack of adolescence among the people who painted her. Wednesday, December 05, 2001
 The largest toad found commonly in Europe, the Bufo Bufo species can grow up to 20cm in length with a rotund body. Active mostly at night, this toad will walk about slowly, sometimes making short jumps, in search of insects, worms and other invertebrates. This makes it of great help to farmers. At the end of autumn it buries itself in the soil where it remains until good weather arrives again. Well, at least it's a European frog, not the poisonous Hawaiian bufo! And I cannot believe I found one of these before the HouseGuru did! Tuesday, December 04, 2001
There was an unexpected treat in my E-mailbox this morning: a letter from an Education Week reporter asking if I would be willing to be interviewed about my high school! Given that I left the place 30 years ago, and I sure as hell ain't famous (or even infamous, like Eric and Hoopty), that was a helluva surprise! Would any self-respecting human dress their pet like this Charming Imposter? I noticed it in a catalogue we got yesterday. Anyone care to try his/her luck at a techie crossword? How about a project to calculate the largest prime number? And you can participate! It's a project similar to the one SETI is doing with the search for ET. Ok, I make my living looking for medical information on the 'Net, but the idea that 89% of doctors use it for medical info, and that 90% of that group do clinical research online is slightly incredible. We all know what the quality of information out here in cyberspace can be like. One hopes the docs are using only reputable sources!
Well, maybe...I'm more partial to the Impressionists. Well, I watched the Firesign Theatre guys on PBS last night. This was billed as their first television special. Maybe it's because I first heard them on LP's, but I didn't think they translated to the visual medium very well. It was also part of the dreaded Pledge Week stuff, so there were interminable pitch periods between skits. Oh well, one can find the early albums here. The ultimate A-List? Can one lie and be found out via new brain scanning techniques? What about lying to get on that A-List? Any former musicians out there? Be aware of the new advances in hearing aids. In other items for those with aging family members, poetry from JAMA. News for fans of European beer, or bad beer-related puns; takeovers in the Euro brewing industry. Will Heineken, Beck's, and Carlsberg survive? Stay on tap. Startling pet stories, including Armadillos and cats! Monday, December 03, 2001
Yo, Loungebunny! I just got what seems (contextually) a reasonable definition of "props"--courtesy (well, lifted without consent) of Zabet, who has a really attractive site. 'Linguistic note: For those of you who do not keep up with street dialects, "mad props" translates roughly to "much proper respect".' Should anyone disagree with this definition, speak now! I'd still like to know the derivation, though. . . Hey, o student of mass media: Please address the distinctions, if any, between Fox News and Goebbels. Close your blue book at the end of the period; lay down your pencil when done. In a (somewhat) related story, is there a "liberal bias" at CBS, and by implication, the other networks? Bernie Goldberg seems to think so. What would Tom and Ray say about this hoax? "Ginger" is finally unveiled! In other frivolous news, I wish the geckos who live in/around my house were as small as these! More seriously, in privacy news, does Congress have a clue about the Internet? Where's Al Gore? He could no doubt explain it to them. Is this peculiar to my barber, or does anyone else walk in with one's hair parted on one side and have the barber comb it the opposite direction? Why is this? (Yes, I went to mine today; call it personal Christmas decoration). The NYT Review of Books has come out with its Best Books of 2001; one can assume the editors are "elitist," or one can assume they wish to promote cocktail party chat for the holidays. Take your choice. In addition, there are links to what they call "Notable Books of the Year." In keeping with the earlier posting above about a web exhibition, here's a story about web design as art. Oh, and those of you whose ice cream was vegetable, take heart! Sunday, December 02, 2001
Why do I let myself be roped into these? Seems like the contents of the questions are often "by me," as we used to say in poker. Anyone that licks me is sure to say I taste like: Ummm, which old country? Now here's a question for you! Hoopty will love it! And a classic "good news, bad news" story for the HouseGuru: that breakfast cereal is OK, but the tea? Anyone want to attend this school? Or, perhaps, exhibit their wares here? As one who has a bird feeder, the argument that the devices do more for humans than for the birds rings true. Entertainment unlimited! Stop the presses! Maureen Dowd expresses some (gasp) sympathy for W. That's more than I could do, in my other life as:
Anybody else buy a jar of unsalted peanuts by accident, rather than on purpose? I offer these as a complement (yes, that's spelt the way I want it to be) to the HouseG's smores; she's seen the recipe before, but I don't know if she ever made it. Easy Peanut Brittle In a large microwaveable bowl combine: 1 � cup sugar Add a 12 oz. can of cocktail peanuts to the mix(may substitute dry roasted peanuts, cashews, pecans, almonds. Hell, shell pistachios if you want to.) Add 1 � teaspoon butter Add 1 � teaspoon baking soda Spread mixture onto lightly greased cookie sheet, or ungreased non-stick cookie sheet. Let cool � hour to 1 hour. Break into small pieces and store in tight container. This makes about 1 to 1 � pounds. Enjoy! PS: Credit General Electric's "The Microwave Guide & Cookbook", 1977 for the basic recipe. I adjusted quantities. |
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