Harvesting items, newsworthy or not

 
Ok, let's see if the new message board tag works.
posted by Link Meister at 10:55 PM

 
Go read this. Do it immediately, for this lady can really, really write. This story is about her return to NY after several months away, and it's beautiful. If you have time, read her other stuff as well. I first read her baseball stories, since I'm a baseball fan, but the Open Letter to God is guaran-damn-teed to move you. I originally found her site linked at Kare's site a few weeks back.

"Tongue piercing causes brain abscess." Well, now. In other items about personal behavior, perhaps the Batgrl would care to comment on this? Or perhaps not.
posted by Link Meister at 3:34 PM

 
Regarding my movie-going experience yesterday, I should add that I'm so lame that this was the first time I'd been in a theater since about 1985. Even then, it was to see an old Hitchcock film (Vertigo, as I recall), not a first-run movie. The last first-run flick I saw was The Gods Must Be Crazy, at some theater in West LA in 1984. Why, then, did you go see Harry Potter, O LM? Well, I thought I should see it on a big screen. Same for LOTR. But I was greatly pleased to see the improvement in seating (cupholders? Wow, cupholders!) and in increased comfort in seat quality. I feel like Rip van Winkle.

So okay, how many of us will admit to having thought of nose surgery? In other news of a proboscic nature, it seems that our elected representatives turn their noses up at E-mail as a useful tool for constituent communications.
For Christmas, have an online tamale? Pricey, but they travel well, apparently. For those of us who have lived in the Southwest and are always on a quest for authentic regional food, nearly anything is worth trying.

This South African museum makes me think of Holocaust museums around the world. And in another form of the arrogance of power, our Commander-in-Chief (heavy sarcasm) has decided Congress has no need-to-know regarding DOJ activities. More confused authority: hyperlinking to a site with "illegal material" might be subject to court test. Then there are the anti-piracy police and their investigations.

Sheesh! All that popcorn yesterday wasn't bad enough? Remember the food police and their warning about the butter used on the stuff? Well, now the Surgeon-General tells us that obesity may soon overtake cigarettes as the leading cause of preventable death among Americans. In health news of a different sort, something is killing Adelie penguins in Antarctica. I know this will be of great interest to the Batgrl, and perhaps to Jon, as well. Oh, and as long as I'm blog-dropping, the loungebunny suggests maybe we could meet and have a cuppa coffee while she's home for Christmas! That would be a lot of fun; possible first face-to-face meeting with a cyber-buddy!
posted by Link Meister at 2:59 PM

 
Well, screw the comments for the moment. I must say that I went to see Harry Potter this afternoon, and enjoyed the flick immensely. Ate way too much popcorn. And, somebody correct me (somehow) if I'm wrong, but do they still use celluloid film? If so, the film broke between the 2nd and 3rd reel, and it took five minutes to repair. I used to be a movie projectionist for about 3 weeks part-time to fill in on Kwajalein, so I have some sympathy, but did they then have to be unable to turn off one of the house lights for five minutes after they got the film fixed?

Oh, well....good movie. Bring on the Tolkien fix, now, Colonel. I'm ready.
posted by Link Meister at 12:14 AM

 
Harrius Potter? Another institution in the news: the Red Sox attract bidders. (Ok, I'm a Dodgers fan, but I have inherent sympathy for the Cubs and the Sox.)

Today's Word of the Day is something bloggers would never do: bowdlerize \BODE-luh-rise; BOWD-\, transitive verb: 1. To remove or modify the parts (of a book, for example) considered offensive. Certainly no one could find poetry for a new-born offensive, could one? From the same source, a book review of a history of the discovery of anesthesia. Yes, yes, sounds dull, but the cast of characters is fascinating. In other medical news, Kenya outlaws female genital mutilation. To my knowledge, Kenya may be the first African country to ban this god-awful practice.

Hey, look! A screenshot of America's FIRST webpage!

And now you know...the rest of the story. (With apologies to Paul Harvey).
posted by Link Meister at 1:17 PM

 
I get home this afternoon after a one-hour wait for the Handi-Cab to pick us up at the ophthalmologist's office, and on my answering machine I find the following: "I need to know everything you can find out about fibropapillomatosis."

How's that for a non sequitur?
posted by Link Meister at 10:53 PM

 
Today's joke, courtesy of BabyBoomers HQ. That's a good site, btw, for those of us old enough to remember it. (Snicker.)

Here's a wonderful ode to the cosmopolis that is New York.

Another headline which grabs: "Camels could help cure humans". Then there is everyone's horror; instruments left behind following surgery.
posted by Link Meister at 2:37 PM

 
Xerox PARC's linguist, Geoff Nunberg, talks about the blog phenomenon today on NPR's Fresh Air. You can listen to a streaming audio file. As I write, it hasn't aired in Honolulu, but I'm looking forward to hearing it.

Here's a sarcastic suggestion for the airlines in their hour of need: sue everybody!

New Technology Tested At Stanford Offers Unique View Inside Small Intestines. Now doesn't that headline just make you want to read the story? If not, how about this one: "Dwarf-Tossing is a Dangerous, Demoralizing Activity". I am not making these up.

Last but not least, the alleged originators of the "Goner" virus have been arrested in Israel. And for those radio/media fans among us, Marconi's first transmission took place 100 years ago this Wednesday.
posted by Link Meister at 4:41 PM

 
Assuming the Batgrl/HouseGuru reads this, I would really like to know how her friend the Platypus is holding up after the loss of her dog. I've been thinking about that off and on all weekend. I've been through that too often myself not to know how hurtful it is.
posted by Link Meister at 6:48 PM