If it's Wednesday...

...it must be the Mind Hump.

What is the last book you read? Twelve Sharp, Janet Evanovich's latest in the Stephanie Plum series.

Who is your favorite character in the book? Stephanie's Grandma Mazur is always good for a laugh, whether she's fronting a rock band, talking about Grandpa Mazur's block and tackle, or trying to open the casket at a funeral.

Did you enjoy the book? Yeah, although I was surprised that Stephanie's car didn't blow up--perhaps Evanovich finally realized that she's blown up Stephanie's car kind of a lot. (At least one in every book.) The series as a whole is reliably funny.

Would you recommend the book to others? Yes, although since it's part of a series, I would recommend reading the other eleven in order before reading this one. Yeah, Evanovich knows how to make sure new readers don't miss anything, but it's still a good idea. These books are popcorn, anyway; you can read one in a few hours. Give yourself a couple of weeks and you'll be caught up.

Crappy grades etc.

Here's the headline I was talking about yesterday. Great job, CNN.

More Random Spewing

If I've linked to this already, I apologize, but Script Frenzy is launching in June. Sharpen your pencils! I'm a touch nervous about it, given that I really hated National Novel Writing Month last year, but whatever. I'll do it anyway.

On a completely different note, in an "I do not think that word means what you think it means" moment, here's an article from Frommer's describing the Hasegawa General Store as indefatigable. It's not really the right word to use there; I think they want "undefeated" or "unbeaten". In that context, "indefatigable" just seems wrong.

CNN has the worst headline writers in the business. Today, they had a headline that read "Crappy grades lead to minority acceptance" (or something like that--the "Crappy grades" part is accurate"). Somehow, I don't think the word "crappy" is part of CNN's journalistic standards. They changed it later. I have screenshots, just not here. I'll post them later. The really bad part (as if "crappy" wasn't crappy enough) is that the headline really had nothing to do with the video, which dealt with peer pressure.

Don't call it a comeback, because they never went away. Or something. I can't believe that there's a new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie coming out. What's the point? I mean, unless they're having a return to the incredibly-serious-yet-at-the-same-time-clearly-a-parody tone of the Eastman and Laird original comics, which does not appear to be the case. (I may very well be one of the few people in America to have paid actual money for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles album in the early 90s. I still have it...somewhere.)

Two things

1. "Bizarre Foods" is on. Andrew Zimmern is in the Philippines. I can't wait to see him eat balut. You know he's going to. (Yup--it turns out to be the first thing. Short take: he liked it.)

2. Patrick's Sunday Seven was Name your seven favorite pieces of American architecture. So, let's see, number one would have to be Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater. Yeah, its design was flawed, but it looks so beautiful sitting there. You can thank whoever it was that reinforced the cantilevers against Wright's wishes. I always thought that Hawaii's State Capitol building was neat. The Empire State, but I think that I like that more because of Doc Savage than as a building. The Sears Tower. I used to know more about this stuff...uh, how about the Guggenheim, although I feel like mentioning it is kind of cliched. Monticello. Penn Station.

The Academy Awards

Just a few observations on the Oscars, which I haven't trusted since "Ghost" won the screenplay award.

1. I joined late, so I thankfully missed Will Ferrell.

2. I was shocked when "Happy Feet" won the Animated Feature award. "Happy Feet" had better be a hell of a movie, because "Cars" was great.

3. The "here are all the dead people" montage was interesting. The applause ebbed and flowed based on the relative fame of the people being shown--so it was a surprise that when June Allyson came up, the applause remained at the polite "who the hell are you" level.

4. Jennifer Hudson blew Beyonce off the stage. I mean, Beyonce can sing, and I've heard her sing with power, but last night her voice just didn't stand up against Hudson and Anika Noni Rose.

I don't watch "American Idol"--the one time I did, my ears started to bleed, and I was watching a season finale performance by the people who were supposedly the best--but this should go a long way towards proving that people are stupid. The idea that THAT VOICE got the boot is just tragic.

The Snow is Not That Bad

We got a foot, maybe fourteen inches, maybe a little bit more. All of the snow you see in these pictures is fresh, since it had all pretty much melted off last week. These are pictures of the mountain of snow out of which I had to dig my in-laws' car.



There's so much because I swept the snow off the car first, and because the car was plowed in.

If we ever move to a standalone house, the FIRST thing I'm buying is a snowblower.

On The Workbench

I built this model of my workbench because I had the wood. It's a pretty faithful 1:16 recreation of the real thing; all it's missing is some NBW (nut-bolt-washer) castings for the legs and the rails against the wall. I couldn't find any that were the right size.

The other criticism I have of it is that I wasn't able to get the right color for the concrete wall.

Other than that, not bad for a project I slapped together because I happened to have the stripwood in my parts pile. The real thing is built with 2x4s, 1/4" plywood and 1/8" masonite. The model is stripwood, with the masonite represented by paint.

800

It's kind of hard to believe that this is my 800th Blogger post. To be honest, sometimes I still miss the old sciencedrive.com blog, and I wish that I had actually backed it all up. (The Wayback Machine at archive.org has a good chunk of it; just search for sciencedrive.com and you'll be able to get at most of the old posts if you try hard enough.)

I started blogging back in January of 2004. It seems like so long ago, and it's only three years. Thanks for reading, and, uh, here's to three more.

Oh, and take this quiz. I don't know for sure exactly which one I got wrong, but it's a comfort to know that I still have a vast storehouse of trivia at my disposal.

You paid attention during 97% of high school!

85-100% You must be an autodidact, because American high schools don't get scores that high! Good show, old chap!

Do you deserve your high school diploma?

I think you missed something

I read a nice article about Hana on cnn.com. However, although he implies it, he doesn't really delve into the fact that while Hana itself is lovely...the Hana highway will make you ill. Take a dramamine or some ginger pills before you go, and remember to use the whole road.

The reason that the "whizzers" whiz by is that they're relieved to finally be driving on a straight road!

(And when you go there, you've got to see the Hasegawa General Store.)

The Friday Five

Before I answer The Friday Five for this week, I thought I'd provide you a link to some hilarious animated pictures of cats with headphones.

On with The Five.

1. Would you rather serve in heaven or rule in hell?

2. If you had evidence that would catch a killer, but also put you in jail, would you use it?

3. If you could work the worst job you have ever had, for three years and then never have to work again, would you or would you rather work the job you always wanted but not be able to retire until well past the age of retirement?

4. If you could write four newspaper headlines, which would come true, what would they be?

5. A video of children in Florida fighting, while adults cheer on, was posted on the popular web site MySpace, The popularity of "gang videos" has also increased, and there has been renewed interest in re creating the infamous "Faces of Death" video series, do you feel there should be laws limiting extreme videos?

1. In theory, as ruler of hell I would be able to create whatever conditions I wanted for myself. That sounds a lot better to me. However, as applied to the real world, I would almost certainly rather serve in heaven.

2. Depends on what kind of killer we're talking about. I mean, if it's a battered wife who killed her husband, then no.

3. The worst job I have ever had was working at the music store, and I still can't stand to set foot in that place, but I would put up with it for three years if I never had to work again. That is, if it meant I would then be set for life--not dead or something.

4. One where I win the Powerball jackpot, "Bush and Cheney Impeached, Indicted," "Mars Terraformed, Colonies Thrive," "News Outlets Stop Reporting Celebrity Bullshit."

5. No. "If you don't like it, turn the channel."

Let's Have A Snack

When I was putting together my lunch this morning, I was confronted with a dilemma: should I take a Hostess Cup Cake, or should I take a peanut butter granola bar from Nature Valley? It came down to which I wanted: healthy stuff or sugary crap.

Or so I thought...before I looked at the Nutrition facts.

Hmmm...one Cup Cake, 180 Calories, 50 of them from fat. One package of granola bars (that's two bars), 180 calories, 60 of them from fat. Whahuh???

Now, I grant you that the granola bars are lower in saturated fat, sodium, and sugar. But if you're watching calories and fat alone, the CUP CAKE is better for you. Something just ain't right. Shoot, the Cup Cake has the same amount of iron and is a source of calcium as well. On the whole, I think that the two are kind of a wash, although I'm no nutritionist--perhaps the sugar (11g in the granola bars, 22g in the Cup Cake) and saturated fat (1g vs. 3g) are more significant in the long term.

I ended up with the granola bars because I like peanut butter better than chocolate.

Die Abenteuer des Raumschiffs Enterprise

Der Weltraum: unendliche Weiten. Ihr schreiben das Jahr 2200. Dies sind die Abenteuer des Raumschiffs Enterprise, das mit seine 400 Mann starken Besatzung 5 Jahre lang unterwegs ist, um neue Welten zu erforschen, neues Leben, und neue Civilization. Viele Lichtjahre von der Erde entfernt, dringt die Enterprise in Galaxien vor, die nie ein Mensch zuvor gesehen hat.



Interesting, huh? "Space is really big. It's the year 2200. These are the adventures of the Starship Enterprise, with its 400-strong crew is traveling for five years, to discover new worlds, new life, and new civilization. Many light years away from Earth, the Enterprise travels to galaxies which no person has seen." (That's a very loose translation on my part.) I've been watching some German Star Trek on YouTube. It's neat.

Soda

This week's Sunday Seven asks you to Name your top seven favorite soft drink flavors or varieties.

Easy. Here goes.

IBC Root Beer. Sprecher Root Beer. A&W Root Beer. Mug Root Beer. Diet Sierra Mist (for some reason, I really don't like the regular stuff). RC Cola (with a manapua). Sprite.

I rarely drink soda any more, though. It's a habit I've gotten out of, plus I try to stay away from too much sugar. I try to limit myself to a can a week, usually on Friday when we have pizza for lunch at work, and that's always whatever they're calling Diet Sprite. Sprite Zero or something like that. It tastes vile, but my only other choices are colas and Dr. Pepper. I have water the rest of the time.

A Great Idea

Out of all of the major modeling categories, my least favorite is definitely the automobile. I just don't get the appeal of cars in general, I guess; I can appreciate some cars from an aesthetic standpoint, but I'm no grease monkey. Never have been. But car models seem even more pointless to me. Unless you're going to superdetail an engine, car modeling is primarily about getting the best paint job you possibly can, and that leaves me cold.

Courtesy of Mr. Greene, however, comes a website that suddenly makes car modeling seem fun. It's called Crash Bonsai, and it's exactly what it sounds like: model cars, crashed into bonsai trees.

Three thumbs way up!

This...is...JEOPARDY!

Today's Saturday Six is about something I spent a LOT of time watching on the television machine as a kid: Game Shows. I watched Match Game, Card Sharks, Jokers Wild, Press Your Luck, Price Is Right, Password...you name it, I watched it. It gave me the vast storehouse of stupid knowledge I enjoy today.

On with the show.

1. Take the quiz: What game show host are you?

2. What game show do you think you would be best as playing?

3. What game show do you think you would be worst at playing?

4. Have you ever applied or auditioned as a contestant for any game show? If so, which one?

5. If you had to apply or audition for a game show, which one would you most likely choose?

6. If you found out you had to host a game show, which one would do you know well enough that you could actually host?

1. Unsurprisingly, I got Alex Trebek.

2. Jeopardy, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, or 1 vs. 100.

3. I would be worst at playing something like Deal Or No Deal, where the game and outcome are essentially random and no skill is involved. As much as I liked Card Sharks, that would be another one that I would stink at.

4. I tried to get on Who Wants to be a Millionaire, actually, during those heady times when it was a hot prime time hit, but I was never able to get through on the phone number.

5. I'd choose Jeopardy, or maybe 1 vs. 100. There's a little bit more cachet if you're on Jeopardy, but overall the questions on 1 vs. 100 are a lot easier.

6. Jeopardy or Millionaire. Or Match Game, as long as I could use that Gene Rayburn microphone.

The bricks in his head, not so benign

Praise the Heavens, Our Glorious Leader's moles were benign. Apparently they were able to remove his head from his ass long enough to determine that.

Friday's Feast

I thought I'd take a stab at today's Friday's Feast. You know, because it's Friday and all.

Appetizer
What sound, other than the normal ringing, would you like your telephone to make?

Soup
Describe your usual disposition in meteorological terms (partly cloudy, sunny, stormy, etc.).

Salad
What specific subject do you feel you know better than any other subjects?

Main Course
Imagine you were given the ability to remember everything you read for one entire day. Which books/magazines/newspapers would you choose to read?

Dessert
If a popular candy maker contacted you to create their next confection, what would it be like and what would you name it?

Appetizer: A pleasant low-pitched beep would be fine for me. I don't really care for ringtones--although I do have to say that the SpongeBob ringtone I had at my last job was pretty fun. "Who lives in a pineapple under the sea? Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?"

Soup: Calm.

Salad: Guh. Model-building, maybe. Video games. Games in general. The all-encompassing "Trivia," perhaps. That's not to say I'm an expert at any of these things, just that I know more about them than I do about, say nookyalur physics.

Main Course: Remember or understand? The one is no good without the other. Facetiously, I would like to read and remember tomorrow's lottery numbers. I suppose a book on composition and arranging, assuming here that I would have to do more than flip through the pages and skim all of the words. There's only so much a person can read in 24 hours. The real problem with remembering everything is that knowing facts isn't the same as being able to apply them.

Dessert: The perfect candy already exists, and it is called Take 5. It's tough to invent a new candy, because it seems like all of the ideas in that area that are worth having have been had (famous last words). I suppose I would try to make a five-spice candy, kind of like five-spice chocolate cake. I'm thinking of a dark chocolate shell around a milk-chocolate and five-spice center of some kind, either liquid or buttercream.

Something Stupid, plus A Work Of Sheer Genius

Something Stupid: What the hell is wrong with this country? I happened to spin past a show on Discovery about a company that makes mannequins. Regular old dummies. Not Real Dolls or anything like that--just the kind of thing you see in any department store. These are not anatomically correct mannequins...but they blurred out the boobs on the female mannequin. Remember: no detail, just a cone of foam. BLURRED OUT. No blurring evident on the huge package on the male mannequin, by the way. Who the hell makes this decision?

A Work Of Sheer Genius: Sir F. Crisp sent this along. It is inspired.

My "I don't have to run" day

Sorry about that title...it's just that I'm answering Manic Monday. Today's questions have to do with sleep.

Do you have a regular bedtime routine that helps you get to sleep? No, not really. The last thing I do before I go to bed every night is tuck The Youngster back under her covers. But that doesn't exactly help me go to sleep. To be honest, I never have trouble getting to sleep. I'm always so tired when I go to bed that there's really no problem.

On average, how many hours of sleep do you get each night? Five to six. Somethimes seven if I'm lucky.

How many hours do you actually require and/or like to have? As many as possible. The real problem is that once I'm awake...I'm awake. I don't have trouble falling asleep, but I sometimes have trouble getting *back* to sleep.

How do you deal with insomnia? Like I said, I have no problem falling asleep. Usually. Very, very rarely, I'll lay awake for a while. I taught myself how to fall asleep in college. I guess it's a sort of self-hypnosis, I'm not sure. Basically, I imagine myself counting grains of sand on a beach, in as great an amount of detail as possible. I take each grain and inspect it. I suppose it's sort of like counting sheep. I used to have to talk myself through every step and hold the images associated with each step in my head; then I was able to shorthand it: "beach," "pail," "shovel," "sand," and so on. Now it's automatic. I can fall asleep anywhere.

The Six

Here's that Saturday Six from Patrick's Weekender.

1. A friend arrives from out of town and wants to go to dinner at a nice locally-owned restaurant: where would you take her?

2. Your friend then says he wants to learn something about the history of your city: where would you take him first?

3. Does your current hometown have any specific kind of weather threats (i.e., tornado alley, etc.) or natural disaster threats (i.e., earthquake faults, volcanic activity) that concerns you?

4. Take the quiz: What city shares your personality?

5. Have you ever visited this city or lived there before?

6. Based on what you know about that city, either firsthand or from others, do you think it would be a good fit for you? Do you think it would be a better fit than the city in which you now live?

1. How nice, and who's paying? If money is no object, I'd say L'Etoile. However, if they just want to have a casual dinner in a quiet place that has reasonably good food, the Bavaria Family Restaurant is pretty good. One of the restaurants owned by Food Fight might be good, too. If they like Middle Eastern food, Lulu's is good, or for Korean, New Seoul.

2. Heck if I know. The library or the State Historical Society, I suppose. Maybe the State Capitol. I don't know a darn thing about this place.

3. None that concern me. Tornadoes are the only natural disaster possibility, but we're not in any kind of "tornado alley."

4. These things are just so much nonsense.

You scored as Killarney. You are Killarney, Ireland! You are probably somewhat quiet and thoughtful. You don't mind frequenting the city pubs with your friends, but you also enjoy peaceful time alone.

5. No.

6. I've never heard of it before, so I have no idea.

Iran by summer

I'm willing to bet that they found the evidence tying Iran to attacks on U.S. troops on the back of the same cocktail napkin that contained Iraq's chemical weapons program.

All Tied Up In Knots

I had occasion to need to tie a slip knot today, and for the life of me, I couldn't remember how to tie one. I thought, "Well, of course, the Almighty Internet will hold the knowledge I need."

And sure enough, it did, at a site called I Will Knot. Video tutorials on tying a few basic knots, extremely helpful and totally pain-free.

The really fun thing is that I knew a bunch of these knots, but never knew what they were called. I think I would have made a terrible Boy Scout.

Something for HEROES fans

Okay, actually, it's something kind of disconcerting. They're playing this on the Disney Channel.



I keep expecting to see Claire throw herself off of a building and get up and pop her ribcage back together and walk away.

Hungry enough to...well, they get to that

I read a funny article on time.com about what the rest of the world does with dead horses. It starts off quite humorously: "I was moved by the volume of tributes to Barbaro on his passing.... Then I found out Barbaro was a horse.... Despite our reputation, it turns out we are actually a nation that thinks like a 14-year-old girl."

Another long question post

A long one, courtesy of The Survey Place. It's a bit dated; I'd guess about ten years old, given that one of the questions is about Spice Girls and another is about "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air". But that's okay.

1) What side of the heart do you draw first? The right side. I couldn't imagine drawing a heart from the left side; drawing a heart is too much like writing, so it only seems natural to start the right side. After all, the right side is the one that gets drawn from left to right, top to bottom. On the other hand, maybe if I drew the left side first, I could use the more natural writing direction to my advantage in matching up the sides.

2) Can you dive without plugging your nose? Yes. Anyone can. Just breathe out as you go in.

3) What color is your razor? Gray and black, with a touch of blue. This is a weird question.

4) What is your blood-type? A. I just got a letter from the Red Cross begging me for a blood donation.

5) Who would you want to be tied to for 24 hours? Nobody. Not even my wife. I don't like the idea of forced confinement. I can barely even stand being free in an airplane.

6) What is a rumor someone has spread about you? I have no idea. That's probably a good thing.

7) How do you feel about carrots? I don't love 'em, but I'll eat them. I don't mind them small and shredded, but I'm not a huge fan of large hunks of cooked carrot. Unless they're in stew.

8) How many chairs at the dining room table? I think there's one. We don't use the table for eating. It's covered in junk. The chair is an afterthought.

9) Which is the best Spice Girl? Mel C., "Scary Spice."

10) Do you know what time it is? "Does anybody really know what time it is? Does anybody really care? If so, I can't imagine why." It's a little after midnight right now. Knowing the time is inescapable, if you're using a computer. Just flick your eyes up (or down) to the clock.

11) Do you know all the words to the Fresh Prince? "Now this is a story all about how my life got flipped, turned upside-down. Let me take a minute, just sit right there, to tell you how I became the Prince of a town called Bel-Air." Yes, I know the rest of it.

12) What would you do if you were stuck in an elevator? Call someone on my cell phone and get out by any means necessary. I'd be okay for a little while, but I'd break down pretty fast.

13) What's your favorite kind of gum? Trident Tropical, uh, something-or-other. It's in an orange package.

14) All's fair in love and war? Nah. There's no need to be a dick.

15) Do you have a crush on anyone? Nah.

16) Do you know how to use some words correctly, but not know the meaning? I cannot conceive of a way for this to be the case. If you know how to use a word correctly, shouldn't you naturally know what it means? Or am I missing something? I suppose it's possible that you could use a word correctly but be unable to define it succinctly, but to not know what it means at all?

17) Do you like to sleep? Despite the way my sleep schedule looks, yes.

18) Do you know which US states don't use Daylight Savings? I know Hawaii doesn't. Not sure of any others.

19) Do you know the words to the song Total Eclipse of the Heart? I could sing along with it if it came on the radio (assuming I didn't just change the station, which is an excellent possibility), but I don't think I could quote any part of it other than "turn around, Bright Eyes" and "once upon a time I was falling in love, but now I'm only falling apart."

20) Do you want a bright yellow '06 mustang? No. I don't think I'd even want one of the old-school classic Mustangs with the horrendous fuel-tank placement.

21) What's something you've always wanted to do? You know, I recently stumbled across a list I made fifteen years ago of things that I wanted to accomplish, and I was amazed at how many of them I actually had done. One of those things was to have "a job with computers."

22) Do you have hairy legs? Extremely so.

23) What does "Semper Fidelis" stand for? It doesn't "stand for" anything, since it's not an abbreviation. It's the Marine Corps motto; it's Latin for "always faithful."

24) Would you rather swim in the ocean or a lake? An ocean. The Pacific, to be specific. It's terrific.

25)Do you wear a lot of black? Yeah. I probably shouldn't, but I do.

26) Describe your hair? Black with a bunch of white. Currently pretty short, it it pretty wavy when it gets longer.

27) Do you have Entomophobia? I would certainly prefer not to see insects, and I would run screaming from the room if an insect the size of an iPod was near, but at the same time I'm not afraid of your run-of-the-mill, garden-variety bug.

28) Are you an adult? Yeah.

30) Do you have a tan? It's more or less permanent.

32) Do you enjoy spending time with your mother? Yes.

33) Are you a sugar freak? No. I prefer savory to sweet.

34) Do you like orange juice? Yes.

35) What sign are you? "Yield." Andy Bumatai aside, I am a Cancer.

36) Where do you wish you were right now? I like it here in my chair just fine, although I could indulge myself and wish I was someplace quiet and isolated, "far from the madding crowd."

37) Who did you copy this from? The Survey Place.

38) How do you know them? I don't. They were linked to from someone else who answered yesterday's Tuesday Twosome.

39) Have you kissed anyone in the past week? Yes.

40) What are your plans for the weekend? Nothing concrete, but I'll probably work on some models. The 17th, I'm taking The Youngster to a Model Railroad Expo.

Famous First Lines

I found this Famous First Lines Quiz and I thought I'd take it.

You Got 71% Right!

 

Very very nice. You've got the basic classics down cold, and a few of the less mainstream ones as well. You get a gold star for brightness!

Famous First Lines Quiz
Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Tuesday Twosome

I thought I'd take a stab at today's Tuesday Twosome. It seemed interesting.

1. List two items of clothing you would never wear again.
2. List two food items you would never eat again.
3. List two types of music you would never intentionally listen to again.
4. List two TV shows you would never watch again.
5. List two beverages you would never drink again.

"Again," I guess, implies that you wore, ate, listened to, watched and drank these things intentionally at least once.

1. My high school marching band uniform, marching band uniforms not being the height of fashion, and my high school track and field uniform, because I didn't particularly care for the see-through shorts. Only wore that once, though.

2. I'm not sure I've ever eaten anything so disgusting that I'd never want it to pass my lips again. I'd never want to try balut, but that doesn't count as "again". I must be blocking.

3. New "country" music--not old-school classics, but the stuff that is different from rock only by the twang in the singers' voices--and nu-metal would have to top that list.

4. "Star Trek: The Next Generation" and "Star Trek: Enterprise". It came to me the other night, as I was watching Star Trek, that one reason that Star Trek is superior to any of its lesser offspring is that the sense of danger and possibility of loss is very real for the characters. I never got that impression when watching any of the other Trek series, and I blame Star Trek III for it all.

5. Milwaukee's Best Light (I fail to see the point in making a bad thing worse) and Zima.

The Sunday Seven On Monday

Patrick's Sunday Seven is interesting today.

Name your top seven favorite individual episodes of any single television series. If you feel especially enterprising, give a few lines explaining why you think makes your chosen episodes so good.

I'll pick Star Trek. At Christmas, we picked up all three seasons, and I've been picking my way through. Also, I don't think I have an encyclopedic enough knowledge of any other TV show; I couldn't name seven individual episodes of anything else. Except maybe Red Dwarf.

Star Trek episodes, in no particular order, and I'm not feeling particularly enterprising (no pun intended:

1. The Menagerie (both parts). This is the episode with the wheelchair-bound Captain Pike and the telepaths on Talos IV.

2. The Mark of Gideon. This is the one where Captain Kirk finds himself on the duplicate Enterprise on the surface of the extremely-overcrowded planet Gideon. I remember being REALLY scared by this one when I was a kid, by the parts where Captain Kirk can suddenly see green-tinted crowds outside the ship's viewports. All those people, just staring in...scary.

3. The Devil In The Dark. The Horta episode. "NO KILL I."

4. Journey To Babel. Spock's parents.

5. Balance of Terror. The episode where we first see the Romulans.

6. Amok Time. "You may find that having is not so pleasing a thing as wanting."

7. The Galileo Seven.

Huh...five basically Spock-centric stories. Interesting. Spock is great.

Music Mambo time

From BDI, it's the Music Mambo--apparently in honor of Weatherperson's Day: List five songs about the weather (or with weather-related words in the title)

1. It's Raining Men (first thing that popped into my mind...yikes)
2. Who'll Stop The Rain
3. Who Can Stop The Rain
4. A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall
5. Cold Winds

"Cold Winds" is a song from an album of the same name by Lee Murdock. Great stuff.

No More Questions

Apparently, the management at Question of the Day doesn't like people answering the QOTD on their own blogs. I just noticed that today. So, I guess no more Questions of the Day.

In other news...holy shit, did you see this lie that The Decider spewed? "I welcome debate in a time of war."

777th post

Nothing profound for post 777 (hard to believe that the archives stretch back to 2004...those seem like such idyllic, long-ago times). Just a little something from Question of the Day that I think may be revelatory. I'm not sure exactly what it reveals. I leave that to people smarter than me.

The question is "So, tell us, what 3 words do you think of when I say Italy?" I wonder what it says about me that the three words are actually names, and those names are Giada De Laurentiis, Mario Batali, and, I kid you not, Benito Mussolini.