Is it hot in here, or is is just me?

I'm still trying to decide what I thought about a lecture tonight: "What are the Health Impacts of Global Warming?" (subtitled "How could the 17 proposed coal fired plants affect our health?")

The primary speaker was Dr Catherine Thomasson, incoming director of Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR). Oftentimes when I listen to emotional presentations - on either end of the political spectrum - I secretly wish for "the other side" to be speaking to me through an earbud, ala the commentator at a golf tournament.

"The quote she just made was taken out of context, from a 1983 report on the impact of strontium-90 on three ferret-eating albinos in Alabama."

or

"What she says is true, but it would require raising taxes, and there's not a politician alive who has the cajones to do that, because they'd be diselectrified in the next election"

Don't get me wrong: there were lots of seemingly valid data points in her preso (to be posted to the Oregon PSR website later this week (look for "Energy Independence Texas")

Examples:

• Much of the bad air we breathe here in Dallas comes from coal-fired power plants in west Texas ("The Dallas-Fort Worth area had the biggest health impacts of Texas metro areas, with 290 early deaths, 476 nonfatal heart attacks and 10,263 asthma attacks annually")
• Texas is the 7th largest CO2 producer in the world, if it were counted as a separate country (in comparison, the USA produces 25% of global CO2)
• 16 of the world's 23 largest cities are on coasts, thus susceptible to rising sea levels caused by global warming
• Texas' 17 coal power plants contribute 10% of USA's particulates
• watch for a press release Real Soon Now from the "Texas Mayors for Climate Action" (yeah, right .. I'll hold my breath for that one)

Related website pointers:

• Oregon's Department of Energy
• Architecture 2030 standard
• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IGCC)
• Carbonfund.org
• Public Citizen's Climate Action Committee will meet later this month at the Dallas Central Library
• The Sierra Club's Cool Cities campaign
• LEED standards

As I was leaving, I noticed 3 Toyota Prius parked in the lot. One sported an Expose Exxon bumper sticker. I wonder what that's all about?

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Unrelated #43.6: MoveOn reports that Texas senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson (quote) "was the deciding vote against Internet freedom voting to give corporations like AT&T more control of what you see and do online. Your senator voted to let companies like AT&T put tollbooths on the Internet and gain more control over what you see and do online. The fight to preserve the free and open Internet now moves to the full Senate."

Gee, what a surprise that my Radical Rightwing Senatress (who gave women the right to vote, anyway?) is out of touch with Her constituents! She, along with our other Senator - John Corningware (or something like that) - would be better served as workers at the Whataburger drive-thru window.

Canon score upgraded to A++

A few days ago, I blogged about my experience with Canon's customer support, where I gave them a tentative A+. Today, the nice FedEx man arrived with the boomerang in the form of a shiny new (okay, refurbished) Canon PowerShot SD450 camera, to replace the S230 that suddenly decided not to work anymore. Recall that I bought the S230 new in December 2002.

Here are the improvements from the old camera:

bigger LCD - 2.5" instead of 1.5"
more MPs - 5 instead of 3
optical zoom - 3x instead of 2x
macro focus - 3cm instead of 10cm
movies up to 640x480

The only downside to the upgrade is that I'm now saddled with two rechargeable batteries that I can't use - the new camera uses Secure Digital media and a smaller battery. And now I need to buy a new spare, for both it and the Pentax that arrived at the beginning of the month. After "doing the math" I realized this Canon SD450 is my 6th digital camera (my first was acquired in May 2000 - a 1.2 MP Sony Mavica FD-90). Heck, the Sony saved pictures to a 3.5" diskette - anyone remember those?

Given the differences between the FD-90 and the T10 (the most advanced in my current arsenal), it'll be very interesting to see the digital photography technology leaps in the next six years.

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Unrelated: Night of the Living Doormen reminds me of my trip to Houston earlier this week.

Battle of the Greasy Grass

Today is the 130th anniversary of a great victory by the Lakota, albeit short-lived. Some may remember this as the anniversary of George Armstrong Custer's death at the Little Big Horn. History says (best as I can fathom) that the Fundamentalist Republicans soon returned and killed any remaining Indians who refused to convert to Buddhism.

Deep Thought: If there indeed were no survivors, how do they know the battle lasted only 20 minutes - were the Lakota wearing pocket watches?

I asked William-Bob the best way to commemorate the occasion, and he suggested scalping a paleface (among less "enthusiastic" suggestions). Instead, I moseyed down to Dallas Heritage Village at Old City Park and stood inside a tepee. Pretty outrageous, huh?

I've never been to Old City Park (in the Cedars Neighborhood Association turf) before, and was somewhat surprised to find how close it is to Dallas City Hall; it's obvious that I-30 (opened about 1965) has condemned this area to the Wrong Side of the Tracks phenomenon. They've been holding an annual Art Event late in the year; I've put Cedars Open Studios in my calendar (probably November 18th this year - it's the Saturday before Thanksgiving).

new TV show premieres .. Real Soon Now

The funniest thing I done seed all week was on Comedy Central's The Mind of Mencia.

The scene is a forensic exam room. A guy who looks like Larry the Cable Guy is peering into a microscope. Carlos (Mencia) asks why the crime can't be solved, since there were lots of bodily fluids, and a bite mark on the victim's neck.

"Everyone in this town got the same DNA," says pseudo-Larry. "And we ain't got no dentist," at which point he smiles, showing his lack of a full mouth-o-teeth.

The name of the TV show (spoof)? CSI:Kentucky. Priceless.

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Unrelated: Hitler or Coulter? quiz (my score: 6 correct; 8 wrong. eek!)

Dallas: we're #4 !!

Six cities in Texas are the Sweatiest, although Arizona claimed spots 1 and 3.

The Top 10:

 1 Phoenix, AZ
 2 Las Vegas, NV
 3 Tucson, AZ
 4 Dallas, TX
 5 Corpus Christi, TX
 6 San Antonio, TX
 7 Austin, TX
 8 Shreveport, LA
 9 Houston, TX
10 Waco, TX

source: Old Spice's Fifth Annual Top 100 Sweatiest Cities List, a ranking of the nation's heaviest sweaters during the summer months.

"The list is based on the average amount of sweat a person of average height and weight would produce walking around for an hour in the average high temperatures during June, July and August of 2005 for each city."

National Aboriginal Day

Since I've decided to turn Canadian, it's important that I celebrate all the Canadian holidays, including today - National Aboriginal Day. I'm not sure exactly how to celebrate, so I guess I'll just act aboriginal all day, eh? Suggestions welcome.

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Unrelated: too bad the Dallas Mavericks (basketball) lost the last 4 games in a row, thus losing the series 2-4. I guess that the Rocket Scientists at Dallas City Hall (who predicted a sweep after game 2) can cancel the NBA Championship Parade.

Since there was the obligatory bet-between-mayors, looks like Dallas Mayor Laura Miller will forward these "Dallas’ local delicacies" to Miami Mayor Manny Diaz:

Cowboy Boots – from Wild Bills Western Store
Cowboy Hat – from Wild Bills Western Store
BBQ from Sonny Bryan’s Smokehouse – World Famous BBQ
Tex-Mex food items – from La Calle Doce
Sweet Tea & Dr. Pepper
Pecan Pie

Mayor Laura is also obligated to participate in a “Jersey Swap” where she must wear a Miami Heat jersey – autographed by a star player - to a meeting of the Dallas City Council on June 28th (next Wednesday).

Insurgency? What insurgency?

I had to run an errand today: drop off some stuff at the Bulk Mail Facility. Each time I've been there, I noticed the TV in the waiting area

(you didn't think people in queue at the post office have to wait?)

is tuned to Fox "News". It's been that way for the past 2 years. You'd think that once in awhile it would be on one of the networks, which (I think) air soap operas and their ilk all afternoon. Or maybe the Discovery Times channel, or Animal Planet. Or heck, even CNN Headline News. But nope .. it's always tuned to Fox "News" (network of the Radical Right Wing).

So, I listened about 90 seconds while VP Dick Cheney stupidly excused his assininity in proclaiming that the Iraq Insurgency was on its deathbed, over a year ago. (Hindsight being 20/20, and all that). I suspect I laughed out loud, then realized that a 19-year old Muslim-killing-wannabe (his T-shirt imprint, buzz haircut, and open-mouthed gaze were the giveaways) was also in line, and was Eating Up Cheney's Every Word, as if he were watching a divine creation speak.

I hold no illusion that, when these mental giants (obviously a product of the Texas education system - 49th in the country) vote in upcoming elections, the most anti-immigrant anti-gay anti-choice anti-flagburnin' (anti-anti?) candidates will continue to win.

Lesson learned: remind me not to return to the post office without my earplugs.

SATIRE : South American Tire?

I moseyed down to the Inwood to see Thank You for Smoking. There were only 5 of us in the theatre for this Sunday screening, and the parking lot was still mostly empty when I left, 2 hours later.

Why such a light crowd? I have four theories:

1. The movie's been out for quite awhile, and will probably be released on DVD Real Soon Now. The site where I normally go to buy movies - dvduniverse.com - simply says "Theatrical Release, Not Yet Available".
2. It's Father's Day. Not that I have anything to celebrate there. My own father's been buried - about 900 miles from here - since 1976. Nor am I a father myself. Well, except to Beta the Wonder Dog, who still calls me "daddy" in her dreams.
3. School's out for summer. Everyone's at the beach.
4. There's a reason this is not showing at one of the major theatres: it's a satiric movie, which is lost on 98.3% of the population.

My rating: A-. In order to get an A, I would've had to laugh out loud more than once. There were lots of great lines, but with so few people in the room, I politely waited for them to be amused first.

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Unrelated #0: it rained about 2/3 inch yesterday. This was the first measurable rain in 38 days. I wonder if it'll be another 38 days until the next one?

Unrelated #1: last night, Beta and I watched Napoleon Dynamite. It is, without question, the Finest Motion Picture of All Time.

Travel Is Glamorous, Part 3

It's amazing how easy it is to fall back into a routine.

Doing something like flying 250 miles to another city, working for a few hours, then coming back the same day in time for dinner with Beta the Wonder Dog .. it's just so .. routine. I popped down to Houston yesterday; it was mostly uneventful.

The alarm went off at 5:30am, but I was already awake. Insomnia comes and goes with me, lately it just means that I'm operating on less sleep than usual. Not that I'm up for a few hours, sleep for a few. No, I've had those in the past. Now, if I can get 5 or 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep, I've done good.

I let Beta outside to play (or whatever dogs do in the backyard), fetched the paper, and proceeded to Take The Pills then Feed My Face. I'd already stuffed my rucksack (the night before) with the toys I needed, so it was off to the shower, dress and go. I reached Love Field in about 15 minutes, parked Jack in The Parking Spot, and was on the shuttle. I noticed a TV news crew filming a stand-up shot (is today The Day that they'll settle The Love Field Controversy?).

I used Southwest's self-checkin machine (there are a lot more of them than the last time I flew from here, maybe 5 years ago) and was handed two boarding passes. Then, it was Off With The Shoes and the obligatory cursory TSA check. Onto gate #3, and since I was early I hopped on the 7am flight, which would land at Houston Hobby at 8am. Flights to Houston are every 30 minutes, so this shaved 30 minutes off my day.

I sat in a window seat near the back; the plane appeared about 2/3 full. I remembered to power down my cellphone. Only a few stragglers had to suffer The Middle Seat. I was offered coffee or juice, read one of my fellow travelers' USA Today ..

Deep Thought: why are passengers on Southwest friendlier than American's passengers? I suspect it's due to the formality of American's assigned seating, which is a joke since I don't get to choose my seatmates either way.

.. and then re-read some of the technical stuff I'd need at the customer, in downtown Houston.

Upon landing, I headed directly to Budget's van and found myself in their Fastbreak Shelter a few minutes later. The sales rep in Dallas had called me while I was on the shuttle, just checking in. Budget's "rapid rental" allows you to select your car from a few others (probably within a class) and then I just showed my license to the Nice Man At The Gate and was on my way.

Mostly ignoring Yahoo Maps' directions,

"Travel on First Street for 0.2 miles. Proceed onto First Street for 1.2 miles. Proceed onto First Street for 0.4 miles."

I moseyed over to I-45 and proceeded north to downtown. Exit at the Theatre District, locate the visitor parking area, go find the customer, get down to work.

At lunchtime, I was escorted downstairs to The Food Court, composed of a dozen-or-more mostly familiar names. I chose The Philly Connection, all the way at the end .. there was no line at 1pm. Several World Cup fans were there watching a game on the plasma TVs. For me, watching soccer football is like watching baseball: you know that there's an end a few hours away. The goal, as a spectator, is to simply stay awake until it's over.

As the ball was kicked from one end of the stadium to another, I couldn't help but be reminded of leisurely flicking a beachball from one person to another. My theory about Soccer and the lack of enthusiasm in the USA is because soccer lacks the thing Americans crave in their sports: the possibility that somebody's gonna die, or be maimed for life. Think Fiery Crash at NASCAR, or a man's knee going The Opposite Direction in American Football. When's the last time a soccer player was killed during a game (except by one of his own crazed fans)? Soccer's a lot like watching golf. Zzzzz.

Anyway, back upstairs to work a few more hours, then .. back in the car (they want $25 for parking??) and a return to the airport. If I drive less than 75 miles, there's a $9.50 refueling charge, so I stopped at a gas station and spent 60 seconds pouring $3.51 worth into the tank before locating Car Return. Then back on the shuttle, back to the terminal, Off With The Shoes, onto the gate, onto the plane (nearly full for the return leg) and back to Love Field. We landed at gate 5.

Onto the shuttle, back in my car, pay my $7.50 and receive a complimentary half-liter of water (Nestle's Pure Life), and aim for home. Since I was able to see (from the plane) that The Dallas North Tollway was stacked up, I took surface streets instead. Home again, let Beta outside to Do What Dogs Do in the backyard, and sit back to watch last night's TiVo offerings.

I wonder if I'll have to do this again tomorrow?

Canon: tentative A+

A few days ago, I blogged about my newest digital camera (a 6 MP Pentax Optio T10). Turns out it arrived in the nick of time, because my Canon PowerShot S230 Just Up And Quit four (4) days later. I'm hoping the Canon wasn't spooked by the Pentax' mere presence.

Turns out there's a known issue with the S230 ("Service Notice: CCD Image Sensor Advisory"), which I discovered after calling Canon's Tech Support (an English speaker, no less) on Monday.

"While reports of this malfunction have been rare in the United States, we have determined that it may occur if the product is exposed to hot and humid environments."

I'm not sure about the humid part, but the camera did fail on Saturday when the bank clock said it was 102F. Although I bought the camera in December 2002, Canon offered to repair it for free .. and they paid the (UPS) shipping, even though it's out of warranty. Wow. That's above-and-beyond the customer (non)service I've grown accustomed to from other manufacturers in the last few years.

Canon, eh? Gotta remember them. Assuming my repaired camera arrives as they predicted (7-10 days) I will happily give them an A+. There are still times when the Canon will be a better choice than the Pentax (in bright sunlight, the lack of a viewfinder makes the T10 mostly useless), although I'm really starting to like the Pentax' touchscreen and all the features it offers. The interface is very different than most digital cameras; I can get used to that very clean touchscreen.

Note to Jill-Bob:
yes, I'm gushing about both cameras. Deal with it!

Aside: I really, really like DP Review's side-by-side comparison feature. Check out the difference between my Canon and Pentax cameras.

playtime!

pollen.com's daily allergy email arrived with the headline

"Be prepared for allergies today! This is your Allergy Alert letting you know that allergy conditions in your area have reached a medium to high range."

Why is this funny? Because, at levels of 4.2 and 4.4 (on a scale of 12) this is about as low a level as it ever gets here in Dallas. Maybe I've blocked it from my mind, but I can't remember when the reading was ever in the "low" (below 4) category .. even in the Dead Of Winter.

I therefore interpret their Alert to mean it's reaching a low watermark, so we can all run outside and play!

coming soon: Microsoft Chutzpah

English Microsoft
patch : update
bug   : (word does not exist in Microsoft)

Microsoft apparently likes the term "Security Tuesday" rather than "Patch Tuesday" since Everybody Knows™ that there are no BUGS IN MICROSOFT SOFTWARE.

Word is that this month's patches (usually issued after 5pm, on the 2nd Tuesday) will include 9 or more Critical ones. I think "Critical" translates to "install this, or every hacker in the country will personally target your machine for the flaw". Fun reading: Microsoft Security Bulletin Advance Notification (their lessons in doublespeak have paid off handsomely).

I've also read about the way they're abusing Microsoft Genuine Advantage to spy on us daily (not just when we need a patch .. er .. update). A fun article about this is eWeek's Big Microsoft Brother which shows that this tiger hasn't changed it's stripes at all. Not only do they offer an anti-spyware product (now in Beta) but they cheerfully install their own spyware on millions of PCs. How's that for chutzpah?

where the west begins

Yesterday, I went to Cedar Hill (Texas) to look around. Who knew there would be so many cedar trees there?

Today, I had breakfast with HayJax and Christine; we were the first ones in the restaurant for the first 30 minutes. I wonder why so many people sleep in on Sunday?

I've been working on a Mexican-English translation table for a few weeks. Today I added Goofajew ("Good for you!"). Two of my other favorites are Hobbanidae ("Have a nice day") and Fybo-Yay ($5.08). Eventually I'll write a book. Assuming one hasn't been done already.

Tonight, the area streets will be deserted after 7:45pm due to something called "The Mavs Game 2". Last night (to demonstrate our Texas Hospitality) 11 people were shot while waiting to get their (valet) cars. Two guys from Missouri (basketball fans in town for The Big Games?) apparently took exception to a husband not wanting them to flirt with his wife. Maybe she wasn't "marked" appropriately? I like the Hindu way of putting a big dot (bindi) in the middle of a woman's forehead: red for married and black for single .. much less confusion. Anyway, the local headline read: "Gunfire wounds 11 near downtown bar". Well, at least they were neighborly enough to allow witnesses to get their license plate number.

It'll be interesting to see if the TV People interview whoever's sitting in Section 121 Row E seats 4-5-6-7. Some entrepreneur sold and resold the same seats (counterfeit tickets) at least three times, before getting busted by Dallas Police. Oops. (See "Counterfeiters cash in on Mavs mania")

the demise of the $10 bill

In the past several months, I've noticed the reluctance (?) of retailers to give me a $10 bill in change; rather, they commonly hand me two $5 bills instead. This has happened to me dozens of times (given that ATMs love to dispense $20 bills, it's only natural that I start with twenties and end up with a mix of 10/5/1* bills).

So .. what is it with the $10 bill that makes merchants want to hoard them? Or am I just imagining things?

* $2 bills? Yeah, right. Like you've seen one of those outside a theme park, or a survey, within the last twenty years.

When Gene Bob becomes King, he'll make the $1 bill (paper) illegal, and mandate a redesigned $1 coin (maybe with a hole in the middle). I'll also get rid of the penny (1¢ coin) and replace it with a 2¢ coin, with Dilbert's face on the front. All change would be rounded to the nearest 2¢.

Deep thought #666: have you ever noticed how members of the KKK won't accept a penny as change, because it has Abraham Lincoln's photo on the face? I suspect they think a penny in their hand would burn through their flesh.

And everyone would live happily ever after. The End.

Thank you for calling at&t; how may I annoy you today?

Disclaimer: all rates mentioned in this entry are rounded up. Years ago, some Marketing Fool was led to believe that the Great Huddled Masses (consumers) will flock to a $17.99 price, yet bypass the same item for $18. That doesn't work on me, so .. deal with it.

I've had DSL service for several years, the last few with SBC. Now that they've changed their name to "at&t" they're starting to annoy me more. I'm sure it's just coincidence, because the old AT&T (all caps) used to annoy me with a passion.

The "DSL Pro" package* I'm on offers reasonable speed (~2.5 Mbps up / ~512 Kbps down). The Full List Price has been $35 a month for quite some time, but promotions are available to reduce that to $22 a month. The problem is that when the promotional period ends (6 months in the recent case) the discounts are no longer applied and -- surprise -- your next bill rises accordingly.

* renamed "AT&T Yahoo! High Speed Internet Pro Package" just because it rolls off the tongue better

So, today I called to complain about this defacto price increase. After being put on hold for 8 minutes - twice - total 16 minutes - the human advised: "We don't have the $22/month plan for 6 months anymore, but we are offering a $20/month plan for 12 months." Okay, fine.

After the call was over, I moseyed over to their website to investigate the various calling plans available - perhaps one of those packages would be a good fit? While there, I noticed that the DSL package could've been had for $18 a month if I'd just signed up online. They never mentioned that during the call, so the $2 must go to staff the call center, huh?

Downside: now I can't move to Minot until after 15 June 2007, when this plan expires and at&t silently raises my rate back to $35/month.

what's Gene Bob watching?

Here's what's on my TiVo Season Pass™ (DirecTV) today:

stuff in italics airs infrequently - at least the first runs

1-10 The Amazing Race; The Daily Show with Jon Stewart; NBC5 News at 10pm; The Colbert Report; Star Trek: Enterprise; Scrubs; ABC World News Tonight; CBS News Sunday Morning; Law & Order: Special Victims Unit; Law & Order: Criminal Intent

11-20 Law & Order; 60 Minutes; POV; NOW; The Office (US); America's Most Wanted; Stand Up Nation with Greg Giraldo; Dallas SWAT; Cops; Saturday Night Live

21-30 The Tonight Show with Jay Leno; All-American Festivals; South Park; Queer Eye for the Straight Guy; Taste of America with Mark Decarlo; Monk; Family Guy; King of the Hill; Rescue Me; The Simpsons

31-42 The Closer; Positively TEXAS!; Texas Country Reporter; My Name Is Earl; American Dad; Texas SWAT; Mind of Mencia; Alaska Magazine TV; Last Comic Standing; Foreign Exchange with Fareed Zacharia; Yearbook; Nightline

deletions since January: The Biggest Loser; Street Smarts; Airline; Late Show with David Letterman; MXC; Airline UK; Insights

Disclaimers:
0- I didn't routinely watch Star Trek:Enterprise when it first aired in 2001, so I'm catching up on selected episodes;
1- many of the shows are in summer reruns now, but will restart in the fall;
2- they're not necessarily in order, as new stuff gets added to the bottom of the list and it often takes me weeks to move it up in the heirarchy*;

* which is important when more than two shows are on at the same time. in that case, the top dog in the heirarchy wins

3- only a few of these are local to Dallas: NBC5 news and Positively TEXAS;
4- I've enabled "First Run Only" for most;
5- TiVo's FastForward button and I are very good friends. I seldom watch more than 12 minutes of The Tonight Show, for example;
6- My choice of local news is predicated on which has the most reliable schedule as far as TiVo is concerned. Some local news is repeated overnight and then conflicts with other shows being recorded In The Wee Hours. Channel 5 (an NBC affiliate) seems to be the most predictable, so they get my nod.

out of print .. permanently

I think it was mid-April when I went to Raytheon's website and ordered a copy of the (free) book "Swanson's Unwritten Rules of Management", after it was recommended by someone. A few weeks later, Raytheon CEO William H. Swanson admitted to plagiarism. So, imagine my amusement when this arrived in the snail-mail:

 

Happy, Happy, Joy .. oh, who am I kidding?

I haven't done much blogging lately. I'm just not motivated. It's our busiest time of the year at work, and that was helped along with the announcement of 4500 (± 500) layoffs coming Real Soon Now. Stock analysts wanted twice that. What can I say, but .. here we go again.

Karl Rove's signature was all over this week's "Gay Marriage Vote" in the US Senate. Watch for TV ads this fall from CFRP (Republicans) members using this one vote against their Democrat challengers. I can hear the voiceover now:

"Are Yew Gonna Vote Fer This Libberal Demmy-Krat Who Wants Yer Son To Marry The Boy Nexx Doar? Well ARE YEW??"

Their predictability has grown tiring, but there will be millions who cower in fear and will vote however their preechers tell `em to this fall.

I was surprised to hear Jon Stewart really going after a guest - when he took William Bennett to task for his pro-discrimination tactics. Heck, for amusement I watched about 4 minutes of Bill O'Reilly (on the Right Wing News channel) and watched him lie, lie and lie some more. BO-RING.

Time to sleep early. I'm starting to get the hang of my Timex Auto-Set Clock Radio (with built-in crickets).

If you need more thrills, see my updated Sundry on Thursday blog. Woo hoo.

Dignification

Looks like the Dallas Mavericks and the Miami Heat are the final 2 teams in the NBA playoffs. Does that mean one of them will win The Super Bowl? This whole Sports Thing continues to be mostly lost on me.

Mildly amusing:
The Mavericks play in the AAC [American Airlines Center] while
The Heat play in the AAA* [American Airlines Arena].

* not to be confused with the American Automobile Association

Not sure why American Airlines calls this "Center" versus "Centre" as Everybody Knows™ the latter is more dignified. Oh, wait .. this is Texas. Never mind.

I'm guessing the notoriously ham-handed American Airlines HQ will find a way to royally screw up the marketing opportunity they've been handed on a Silver Taco Platter. Maybe they'll run ads against repealing The Wright Amendment during the games? That'll certainly show their class.

Lay Wah Bob says that her allergies have all been cured, by using Olive Leaf Extract. Hey. whatever works. Rock on.

My 15-year (same employer) Door Prize arrived last week. Given about 24 items from which to pick, I decided on a shiny new digital camera, to supplant/replace the Canon PowerShot A230 I've been carrying for a couple years. So, I chose the Pentax Optio T10. It's actually not half bad, but (naturally) uses a different media format - Secure Digital [SD] - than my others, which have CompactFlash or SmartMedia. So, it's off to The Store to fetch an SD card.

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Everybody Knows is a trademark of Fox "News"; Rush Limbaugh Productions; and the Christian Fascist Republican Party.