Apologies Accepted

First Americans apologized to the world for the election with sorryeverbody.com. Now the world has responded with apologiesaccepted.com. Thanks world!

More sign hacking...

This sign was supposed to express the West Palm Beach mayor's sympathy with motorists stuck in traffic. Instead someone had a little fun with it. Courtesy of engadget and South Florida's NBC6

NC TV Station Airs Spoof Weather Closure Notices

A North Carolina TV station put up a web site for local businesses to post closure notices during inclement weather. Evidently they didn't bother to screen the notices all that closely. See more here.

Kinsey

Went to see the movie Kinsey, starring Liam Neeson and Laura Linney, tonight. Alfred Kinsey was biology professor at Indiana University in the 30s and 40s. He originally studied gall wasps because of their diverse offspring (gall wasp offspring do not resemble their parents) and eventually became the founder of the Kinsey institute which did ground breaking research in human sexuality studies. Before Kinsey, there was no scientific research to describe what constituted "normal" sexual behavior. Before Kinsey even educated people had bizarre notions like oral sex could inhibit pregnancy. He ultimately concluded that human sexual behavior was as varied as the appearance of the gall wasp. Kinsey was widely castigated by the moralizers of his day who didn't want to hear what people were up to in the bedroom. A good movie, but I'm kinda surprised they got away with an R rating. There's man kissing, full frontal male nudity, engorged penises and vaginas. Not for easily offended.

Oh Yes! It's Scouring Time, Baby!

So if E Online is to be believed, the new super extended version of The Return of the King (250 mintues, 4 hours and 10 minutes!) will feature missing footage including The Scouring of the Shire and Aragorn's confrontation with The Mouth of Sauron at the Black Gate. The new version is out December 14. [article]

Aftermath

Well, the dishwasher's running now, flushing away the detritus of another year's Thanksgiving feast. And this year the feast was at my place, where people oddly enough decided they wanted to eat. The experimental turkey was fairly easy to cook (cooking in bag = no basting = good thing) and appeared to be well received. Pies went to plan. Stuffing was tasty, although I'm kinda pissed that my never used food processor crapped out after 8 cups of bread. Grrr. I'm thankful I had a blender with a chop setting and people kind enough to dine with me. And enough room in my fridge for leftovers. All right, I'm going back to bed. My thanks go out to everyone who came.

Mothers: A Warning...

Board games are a gateway to more serious activities. First it starts out with playing Settlers or Carcasonne or Apples to Apples. Then you might play an occasional game of Magic. Without realizing it, though, you find yourself making characters to play a campaign in D&D. Next I'll be going to a Star Trek convention. Where did I put those miniatures? :-)

Hunter Shoots Eight In Dispute Over Tree Stand

A hunter in Wisconsin has been arrested for having shot eight people, killing five of them, evidently in a dispute over whether or not he should have been in a tree stand owned by some of the victims. It is not clear who did the shooting or who shot first. Now, back in the day, when I took my hunter safety course back in Darkest Maine, they concentrated mostly on not accidentally shooting people. I am pretty sure they didn't have a section on shooting people on purpose, however given the seriousness with which the hunter safety class took accidently shooting people, I am pretty sure they'd be against shooting people intentionally. Crazy. [article]

Crabby

An open apology to those who've had the misfortune to be around me lately: I have not been sleeping enough which has contributed to my overall sense of ennui (I think that's the right way to put it) of late. I'm a bit short tempered and probably not much fun to be around. Maybe I never was. Bah. Where's my coffee? Daddy needs his medicine.

Cool Experience

I went into Guitar Showcase this weekend looking for a David Bowie songbook (Mission unaccomplished, alas. I will have to make due with Internet tabs of dubious value for Width of A Circle) and some kid was playing something from Radiohead on one of the amps as a test piece. Paranoid Android, I think. Anyway, I thought it was pretty cool to hear it played live in a music store.

---

Listening to: The Width Of A Circle from the album The Man Who Sold The World by David Bowie

Busy Weekend

Busy weekend here.

• did semi-annual yardwork
• did a few loads of laundry
• went to Biscuit and Blues Friday night
• made travel arrangements for Christmas
• had dinner and drinks with a friend
• paid bills
• went in to work for a few hours
• practiced guitar until my fingertips were sore
• got some coffee at the grocery store

Now back to the Wheel of Pain.

Dark

I've been waiting here
Waiting for faith
And the word to fall.
Now the darkness comes
And I'll pray for
The end of us all.


[more lyrics...]

Iris Chang Dead At 36

The author of The Rape of Nanking was found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound in her car in Los Gatos, CA yesterday. She had suffered from depression in recent years. [article]

No Spankings At Work

At least if your boss is administering them, anyway. Two young women allege that their boss gave them spankings at work when they "made mistakes." I think someone has watched Secretary too many times. Mmm, Maggie Gyllenhaal. [article]

Strindberg and Helium

A friend of mine at work turned me on to this cartoon: Strindberg and Hee-leee-ummmm!

Back In School

It has begun. I had my first guitar lesson today. Other than waking up 17 minutes before it started and being 10 minutes late, I think it went pretty well.

Sad, Sad, Sad

Having trouble focusing today. The same song keeps running through my head. I guess this is what I get for shedding my basic distrust of human beings. Time to retreat.

so disappointing
first i put it all down to luck
but god knows why my
country don't give a fuck

shine on me baby
cause it's rainin' in my heart

Very Annoyed

No matter what the electoral college turnout, it still appears that more than three million people in my favorite country think that the current administration is the best possible choice. I have heard on several occasions tonight that the most important issue for many voters is the "moral values" of candidates. Fine.

Let me offer Galatians 6:7 - As ye sow, so too shall ye reap. (My paraphrase)

Marilyn Manson

Went to see the Right Reverend MM at the Warfield last night.
Presentation: A
Music: C-
After last year's excellent show, this one was a bit of a let down. Way, way too much bass. I thought for a while that they were intentionally trying to drown out the guitarist, but in a few solo pieces that he had he was quite decent. Not so many scary goth kids there as scary frat boys (including one close by who was a major bummer until he finally got the bum's rush after being repeatedly told to STFU).
Pleasant Surprise of the Evening: AC/DShe, an all girl AC/DC tribute band, that only does Bon Scot vintage covers. A bit of a niche band, eh? Anyway, they were musically tight and the "Angus" was in fine form, holding her guitar upright and marching all over the stage in her schoolboy outfit. Kickass rocker girlz are hot!

Cool Costume: Death

Kristi always has the coolest costume ideas.