Is it fixed yet?

Not exactly. It was suggested by massless that I upgrade my Netscape 7.02 to 7.1. I tried doing that but 7.1 would not install on my computer no matter what I did. It wound up totally hosing my 7.02 installation. I bet you can imagine just how pissed I was about that. So I downloaded Firefox 0.9.2. Hated it. Looks like a cheap imitation IE from what little I bothered with it. So then I downloaded Mozilla 1.7.1. And surprise, surprise. It looks, mostly, like my Navigator and Blogger actually appears to function.

Am I happy? Let's just see what tomorrow brings . . .

Ombria in Shadow by Patricia A. McKillip
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Anyone who reads Ms. McKillip knows the kind of fantasy she writes. Her stories always seem very dark though they often have bright(ish) endings. This one is about what happens when light and shadow overlap. This is only the third McKillip book I've read, but I have become a huge fan. I enjoy her non-traditional style of fantasy with its darker tone.

Link to amazon.com

OK, I found something to cheer me up

The Stargate guys first impressions of you by kestrill
Name
Age
Jack O Neil	wanted you there and then
Tealc	was cautious but fascinated
Daniel Jackson	started believing in love at first sight
Created with the ORIGINAL MemeGen!

Look, ma, it's still broken

I've had to resort to using IE again to post. I resent having to use IE at home instead of my preferred Netscape, but I guess that's the price I have to pay for progress I neither asked for, needed, nor wanted.

The Blogger interface never actually worked worth a damn under Netscape, but I was willing and able to work around it's little idiosyncrasies because the two buttons I used most, aside from "Save as Draft" and "Publish Post", worked like a charm. Those buttons were the spell checker and the preview. Neither of them function at all under Netscape since the glorious upgrade.

I actually enjoyed blogging. It was fun and silly. Now, it's become a cumbersome burden.

Look, ma, he broke it

I am completely unable to post anything using the "new and improved" Blogger interface. Using Windows XP Pro and Netscape 7.02, I cannot get anything to work. I've done the unthinkable by opening IE and using it to make this post.

The new "user-friendly" Blogger

To quote directly from The Jargon Dictionary:

"user-friendly adj. Programmer-hostile. Generally used by hackers in a critical tone, to describe systems that hold the user's hand so obsessively that they make it painful for the more experienced and knowledgeable to get any work done."

I hate sounding ungrateful since blogger.com is a free service, but I really wish someone would put a stop to implementing improvements that aren't and fixing things that aren't broken.

I wish I knew to whom to attribute the next quote, but I have no idea where it originated. It has pretty much become my mantra when I am asked to modify one of the programs I've written to make it just the tiniest bit more idiot proof.

"Design a system that any fool can use and only a fool will use it."

A Trust Betrayed by Candace Robb
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book starts a new series for Ms. Robb based on the character of Margaret of Perth set in 13th century Scotland. The book is classified as a mystery, but I really didn't find it to be much of one. I thought it more a political and historical set up for this new series. Nonetheless, I thought it was a quick, light, entertaining read espcially if you are a history buff. In an afterward, Ms. Robb includes some information I found interesting - William Wallace did not support Robert Bruce but the reigning King of Scotland, John Balliol.

Link to amazon.com

RoboFlop - The mechanical heart of I, Robot. By David Edelstein

I love a good, scathing review.  I haven't actually seen the movie yet, but I harbor no illusions about it having anything to do with Asimov's stories.

The Tragic MooLatte - Couldn't Dairy Queen find something else to call its new drink? By Timothy Noah

Oh, please, get a life. Since I'm neither a rampaging bigot nor a bleeding heart, the similarity this person rants about between the name of the drink and a racial designation didn't even occur to me although I have probably heard the word for the racial designation used more often on a regular basis than the author of the article. I am also willing to bet that most people didn't make the association either since the word for the racial designation isn't really in popular use.

To quote the article, "Moreover, the name of a commercial product should never spotlight, even unintentionally, the physical similarity between that product's appearance (in this case, hue) and that of any class of human beings." And what would you rather they had called it? What clever, catchy word can you come up with for ice cream that you can tack onto latte to make a silly coffee drink name?

The Cosby Row - Are the entertainer's remarks comedy or tragedy? Compiled by Kevin Arnovitz

Jeez, Louise! When did someone saying people should take responsibility for their own lives instead of blaming their misfortunes on society without ever trying to overcome society's limits . . . when did that become politically incorrect? Shouldn't the message for everyone be "get off your ass and work to make changes" instead of "sit on your ass and whine about how miserable your life is"?

And just to prove you can't keep a good geek down . . .

I've added a link to http://www.bloglines.com that let's you subscribe to my blog so you don't have to go hunting for new entries. I use Bloglines as my aggregator and my blogging life has gotten so much easier. One click and I see all that's new since the last time I looked. Love it!

Moon Phases

Since I'm feeling completely phased at the moment, I decided to add the nifty little moon phases thingy I found here to my blog. I love knowing what phase the moon is in. Right now it's waning just like I am.

Haven't heard a peek . . .

Generally, neither do I. I must have been in a serious hurry to post this afternoon if I made a silly mistake like that. It should have been "haven't heard a peep."



And I still haven't heard either a peek or a peep, but I'm seriously pooped.

Men, part zwei

I finally found out what the AKYM was trying to accomplish . . .

We do have a small email issue with a few roaming users. There is a very simple though inelegant solution to the problem. Apparently, the HEL had already told him what the solution was, but he just couldn't (or more likely, wouldn't) accept it, so he reconfigured her email and made a mess of things just so he could prove her wrong. After she and I got her email put back to rights, I sent the AKYM an email explaining the gains and losses of using the two modes Outlook can be configured in and what the solution to the remote issue is under our current configuration. That was almost three hours ago. I haven't heard a peek from him.

Men . . .

Can someone tell me why men feel compelled to fix things that aren't broken? And why is it they know so much better than anyone else that something is broken and needs to be fixed even when no one has complained?

Yesterday, the AKYM decided the non-existent problems we are having with Outlook had to do with the way those of us who have received some training in the area set it up. So he decided to show the HEL how her Outlook should be configured. Shortly afterward, the HEL came to me to ask if I could fix her email back the way it was so she could actually send mail, receive mail from both accounts she monitors, use her personal address book, and get her stored mail back. That's what I'll be doing this morning.

Miss Muggles

I finally have two mostly decent shots of Miss Muggles where her tortoise shell markings are more evident. Her lopsided chest markings show up really well.



She is just such a sweetie cat (even when she's being the dain bramaged demon cat from the nether hells.)

The Ten Commandments and the Alabama Supreme Court Building

Despite how you may have personally felt about the issue, there was a good logical reason for removing the Ten Commandments monument from the Alabama Supreme Court building.

You cannot post things like "Thou Shalt Not Steal," "Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery," and "Thou Shall Not Lie" in a building full of lawyers, judges and politicians.

It creates a hostile work environment.

(I received this in an email from a member of the Resnick list I subscribe to.)

The best friend with the best cat

(That's my best cat, of course.)

Sunday with the best friend

Let's see . . . what did we do?

I took a few pictures of various and sundry things while she took video of my cats. We then looked at the pictures I took and the video she took. I also got to watch video of her husband feeding their goats and their cats and some of the puppies they have running about. By the time we stopped playing with the cameras and went for breakfast, it was almost lunch time.

After filling up on food and checking the mail, we went to see King Arthur. I strongly suspect that I probably would have really enjoyed the movie if I'd been able to watch it in peace. However, a grandma and her half dozen grandchildren decided to sit behind us in the theatre. There was one child who obviously had some sort of respiratory problem. Every couple of minutes or so, it sounded like a goose honking behind us. Then there was the five year old who kept up a running commentary through the entire film despite being told repeatedly to be quiet and watch. And of course grandma didn't turn her cell phone off so it had to ring right in the middle of the film. Not only did the woman answer the phone, but she actually chatted for a few minutes. Then there were the little girls who had to go to the bathroom multiple times during the film. And the little boys who had to kick the back of the seats. Actually, now that I think about, I'm not even sure that it was King Arthur we went to see. It felt more like Nightmare on Elm Street.

After the movies we went back to the house. I fell asleep while she watched one of the Harry Potter movies on TV and played with the cats and took pictures of my house so her husband can see where I live now. When I finally woke up from my nap, we finished watching Two Weeks Notice and then off we went to dinner at Chili's - fajitas for her and a bacon burger for me. We went back to the house after dinner. I did a load of laundry so I would have clean clothes to wear today and we watched Seabiscuit. That was a wonderful little film. We both enjoyed it very much.

The best friend left this morning at the same time I went off to work. I think we had a fun visit.

Family Update

I talked to my stepdaughter yesterday and she said that the surgery to remove the tumor from my former brother-in-law's spine was successful. Unfortunately, the tumor was cancerous; however, the doctors believe they removed the entire tumor. The doctors also grafted some bone to his spine to alleviate some of the damage done by the tumor. My former brother-in-law will be required to wear a neck brace for a while, but he is expected to be able to go home later this week. As of the phone conversation with my stepdaughter yesterday, my former brother-in-law had not been told the tumor was cancerous.

Saturday with the best friend

My best friend came up for the weekend. Friday we had dinner at my favorite local steakhouse, did laundry, and watched the Star Gate: SG1 season premier. I hadn't a clue what was going on since I hadn't watched any of the last season and I'm not really an SG1 watcher in general.

Saturday we had breakfast at my favorite local restaurant to have breakfast at and then we drove to that Barnes & Noble I always go to to have a cuppa at Starbuck's and shop for books. I can never go into a B & N without buying books. Sometimes I do more damage to my finances than others. Yesterday I lucked out - five hardback books for $45. I bought -

King Arthur and the Grail Quest, by John Matthews
Monday Mourning, by Kathy Reichs
Put a Lid on It , by Donald E. Westlake
A Spy for the redeemer, by Candace Robb, and last but not least,
Dungeon, Fire, & Sword: The Knights Templar in the Crusades, by John J. Robinson.

I talked my best friend into buying The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold and she bought one of *those* books she always buys for herself. I don't even know what the title is or what it's about.

After B & N, we drove over the overpass to the mall and walked around till we were ready to drop. Mostly we looked at purses even though neither of us was in need of a new one. They've redone the food court at the mall. It's no longer as large or full of diverse selections as it was. After walking ourselves silly, we really wanted a drink and a pretzel but there were no pretzels to be had. So we went driving in search of someplace we could get something to snack on that didn't involve sweets. Wound up exploring a bit of the area and settled on going to the Cracker Barrel for Stewart's root beer and onion rings. My best friend bought a very pretty multi-blue quilted bag she found there.

Refreshed, we drove down to the outlet mall and wandered through the little remainder bookshop they have there. The only thing I picked up there was a $5 copy of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon. After digging around that shop, we went on the great bathroom scavenger hunt. None of the stores in the outlet mall have public restrooms and the public restrooms at the mall were taped off with yellow tape and traffic cones. We wound up at a Whataburger where we also bought drinks to refresh us on the drive home.

And then we drove home but we didn't actually go home. We went to the movies. Saw The Terminal because it was one we could still get into without missing anything, especially the previews. A movie just isn't a movie if you miss the previews. After a day of shopping, The Terminal was the perfect movie to watch - light-hearted and pointless and mindless and feel-good. We enjoyed it very muchly.

Finally, there was home to wrestle with the kittens and wind down before bed.

Booster shots

Miss Muggles, Mouse, and I just got back from the vet. They were in getting their booster shots and having their little raptor claws trimmed. Miss Muggles weighed in at a hefty 3.11 pounds and Mouse wasn't far behind at 3.8 pounds. They were both very good girls. No hissing or scratching or biting, just plain mind numbing terror tempered by curiosity. They go back in four weeks for another set of booster shots. Thank goodness for having every other Friday off.

Little Bitty Lies by Mary Kay Andrews
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It was a light, frothy read about the trouble you can get into when a shallow man leaves a deep woman in the lurch.

Link to amazon.com

Jimmy Stewart on reality

"I've wrestled with reality for 35 years, Doctor, and I'm happy to state I finally won out over it." -- Jimmy Stewart, in Harvey, 1950

BBC NEWS | UK | England | Lancashire | Wife killer, 100, spared prison

This article details an act of justice tempered by mercy on the part of the court. I find it disheartening the poor man was driven to such an act of desperation because he couldn't cope with the changes.

My first cross stitch project

This is a picture of the very first project I ever tackled when I started cross stitching. It is the piece I am the most proud of because it turned out so well despite not having a clue what I was doing. I stitched the piece in 1990 on 14 count white Aida. Knowing then what I know now, Aida would not have been my fabric of choice. But 14 count white Aida was the suggested fabric on the pattern and I had no idea I could use something else. Heck, I didn't know there was something else to use.


The Castle, Teresa Wentzler

The haircut, revealed

I've had several requests for a picture showing what I look like with my new haircut, so I thought I'd comply . . . sort of.

Set the prayer wheels spinning, part three

My stepdaughter left a message for me this afternoon to let me know the surgery for my former brother-in-law has been moved back to Thursday at 10:30 a.m. It appears there is some kind of problem with his blood clotting or not clotting.

Well wishes, good thoughts, and prayers for the family are still welcome.

Mouse, starring in Alien 4

This is Mouse doing a pretty darn good imitation of an Alien at rest on a blue folding chair.

Miss Muggles in repose

This picture shows off her speckled face and the lopsided tortoise shell markings on her chest.

C. V. R. Thompson

"Washington is the only place where sound travels faster than light."

Training the car

She pulled into a crowded parking lot and rolled down the car windows to make sure her Golden Retriever had fresh air. The dog was stretched out on the back seat, and her mistress wanted to impress upon her that she must remain there.

She walked away from the car backward, pointing her finger at the car and saying emphatically, "Now you stay. Do you hear me? Stay! Stay!"

The driver of a nearby car, perhaps noting that the woman is blonde, gave her a strange look and said, "Why don't you just put it in park?"

The House of Seven Mabels by Jill Churchill
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was a very quick, light, fun read. I actually figured out who did it and why before the what even happened, and I can honestly say it wasn't the butler.

Link to amazon.com

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I enjoyed the book tremendously. I found the point of view refreshing. It was a story of longing and loss and love and forgiveness and change.

Link to amazon.com

Miss Muggles and Mouse

It doesn't take much to amuse a couple of kittens.

Spider-Man 2

I finally got to see the movie yesterday. For a comic book film, it was exceptionally well done. There was plot. There was character development. There was humor. There was just a hint of cheesecake.



And there was that freight train I'm sure was intended to be foreshadowing about the story / villain of the next film.

Happy 4th!

Set the prayer wheels spinning, part two

I just talked to my stepdaughter and the surgery for my former bother-in-law has been moved up to 7:30 a.m. Tuesday morning.

Well wishes, good thoughts, and prayers for the family are still welcome.

Politics . . . a definition

"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedy." -- Ernest Benn

Sometimes someone has such a clear vision of a truth that you wonder at its simplicity. As definitions go, this quote from Ernest Benn encompasses the meaning of politics more elegantly, though succinctly, than any other I've ever come across. The only definition that is shorter and more to the point is not as elegant. It is also very evocative of a Texan, especially the rather blunt one keeping this blog.

"Politics . . . BS bought and sold." -- M. E. Houston

Set the prayer wheels spinning

My stepdaughter called late last night to let us, my son and I, know that one of my son's uncles has been hospitalized as a result of several strokes. During the course of examining him, the doctors discovered that he has a tumor in his spine. At this point in time, no one knows if the tumor is malignant or benign. My former brother-in-law is in a contraption similar to a halo to keep his head / spine immobile since the tumor is located at a juncture where paralysis could occur if the spine is damaged further. He is scheduled for surgery next Thursday.

Well wishes, good thoughts, and prayers for the family are welcome.

The speed of light may not be the speed of light anymore

New Scientist - Speed of light may have changed recently

Title of sixth Harry Potter book revealed

Just in case someone in the known world hasn't heard yet. I think it's an interesting title and it opens up things for interesting speculation.

And just to make things interesting (since I haven't used that word enough in this post), I've added a little poll to the sidebar at the bottom. Tell me what you think of the title.

Quisling

Got you wondering, don't I? Actually, I just like the way that word rolls off the tongue. And it doesn't sound like what it means. It sounds as if it should be the diminutive for something, a food type thing maybe. But quisling is actually another word for traitor. It is derived from Vidkun Quisling, a Norwegian politician and officer, who collaborated with the Nazis during WWII.

Literary Lion

A hungry African lion was roaming through the jungle looking for something to eat. He came across two men. One was sitting under a tree and reading a book; the other was typing away on his typewriter. The lion quickly pounced on the man reading the book and devoured him.

Even the king of the jungle knows readers digest and writers cramp.

The Hedge Knight by Ben Avery
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Link to amazon.com

Cool . . .

. . . Need I say more?

Color me waiting to be happy

The nice A/C repairman just left and he has fixed the problem with the A/C. He climbed thither and yon and jiggled things and flipped breakers and now there is coolish air coming out the vents. He assures me that by the time I get back home from work tonight the house will be nice and cool.

However, the smoke detector in the hallway was making that irritating chirping noise so now I have to hunt down 9 volt batteries on my way home from work later.

It will be nice not to sweat the small stuff once the house cools down.

Color me annoyed

You know that A/C unit I had replaced on Thursday? Guess what it isn't doing tonight?

Miss Muggles

Miss Muggles, whose real name is Rainbow Marie, is the third cat to join my household. Technically, she belongs to my son Alex. She came home with us on May 22, 2004. That was the day we attended the memorial service for my niece Sydney Marie, aged six, who had died a week and a half earlier from the effects of an inoperable brain tumor. It was Sydney who'd named the kitten Rainbow Marie.

I think Miss Muggles is quite a clever little creature. She sits and watches and speculates. She's also fairly well behaved . . . for a kitten. She understands "no" and will stop what she's doing to look at you. Of course, if she can't see you looking at her, she goes right back to doing whatever it was she wasn't supposed to be doing.

She and Mouse are inseparable and prone to tearing through the house like demented demons on speed. One of their favorite places to wrestle is in the curve of my leg as I nestle on the sofa to read or watch TV. That's also one of their favorite places to nap.

None of the pictures I've taken of Miss Muggles yet does her justice. I can't quite capture her where her markings are shown to advantage. I spent a goodly part of the morning of June 20th trying to snap her picture. There were several that would have been priceless if I'd been able to get them, but what I got instead were quite a few really good shots of where she wasn't. I don't think she's quite the diva camera hound that Mouse is.

I've been scalped!

I finally got tired of that mess of once brown now mostly grey hair I'd let grow untended for the last couple of years. My hair is actually shorter than my son's which he noticed immediately I came back home from the salon. I feel so much better now that mess of mass is gone! Yipee!

Gray Matter Exercises

1. A murderer is condemned to death. He has to choose between three rooms. The first is full of raging fires, the second is full of assassins with loaded guns, and the third is full of lions that haven't eaten in 3 years. Which room is safest for him?

2. A woman shoots her husband. Then she holds him under water for over 5 minutes. Finally, she hangs him. But 5 minutes later they both go out together and enjoy a wonderful dinner together. How can this be?

3. There are two plastic jugs filled with water. How could you put all of this water into a barrel, without using the jugs or any dividers, and still tell which water came from which jug?

4. What is black when you buy it, red when you use it, and gray when you throw it away?

5. Can you name three consecutive days without using the words Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday?

6. This is an unusual paragraph. I'm curious how quickly you can find out what is so unusual about it. It looks so plain you would think nothing was wrong with it. In fact, nothing is wrong with it! It is unusual though. Study it, and think about it, but you still may not find anything odd. But if you work at it a bit, you might find out.

(I received this in an email from the Mike Resnick list I subscribe to - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/resnick/. To check your answers, read the first comment.)

Goblin

Goblin is the second cat to join my household. I got her in October, 1996, for my birthday. She was a present from my best friend (Roseunicorn) who asked me what I wanted. For some reason that I still do not to this day understand, I told her I wanted a cat for Annie. So we went to a local pet shop and picked out a kitten. The papers I got for Goblin at the time listed her birthday as July 18 so she'll be a grand dame of 8 in just a couple of weeks.

Unlike Annie, Goblin didn't come with a name and she wasn't very forthcoming with telling me what hers was. I pulled out my baby name book to see if something would inspire me. After much page turning, I settled on Gabby. However, two days after I brought her home, she was being the cat from hell, tearing through the apartment and racing up and over all the furniture. She took a flying leap at the blinds and I yelled at her, "Goblin, get off!" And that, as they say, is history.

Where Annie is a delicate lady, Goblin is a charging rhino. Where Annie has all the feline grace assigned a cat, Goblin has the grace of a Saint Bernard. Where Annie has porked up to a hefty 7.5 pounds, Goblin has grown to an amazing 13.9 pounds. I think this helps explain why my pet name for her is Gobzilla.

Houston, we have lift off

Or maybe that should be touchdown. The A/C people left about an hour ago and I have deliciously cool air coming out of vents all over the house as well as screws, insulation material, and a funny not-quite smell. The kittens have been freed, Annie is out from under the sofa, and Goblin is still napping on top of my cross stitch stash box. Life would be perfect if not for one tiny little thing . . . my phone stopped working . . . sort of.

The drop that goes into the living room, where the master phone base was, has stopped functioning. No amount of crawling around the attic looking at phone wires with the nice A/C repairman gave either of us a clue as to why. We did discover that the other two phone drops in the house work perfectly. So the master base has been moved into the bedroom and the slave base has been moved into the living room and now there is phone service again.

But I'm still mildly annoyed that the phone drop has gone dead.

DAW 30th Anniversary Science Fiction by Elizabeth R. Wollheim
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The anthology had four stories I liked for the same reasons as I liked the fantasy stories. It almost goes without saying that I liked C. J. Cherryh's The Sandman, the Tinman, and the BettyB. I don't think I've ever read anything by Ms. Cherryh that I didn't like. I was very pleasantly surprised by Timothy Zahn's The Big Picture. Unfortunately, I associated Timothy Zahn with writing professional Star Wars fan fiction (none of which I have ever read) so I was expecting something . . . well . . . bad. I am very happy to realize Mr. Zahn is really a very good writer. Like the Valdemar story in the Fantasy Anthology, Tad Williams' Not With a Whimper, Either is an excellent story (my favorite in the book, in fact), but the end truly does justify the means. And lastly, but not leastly, I liked Downtime by C. S. Friedman. That story adds new dimension to the alienation of parents and children. It was very creepy.

Dying Of The Light by George R.R. Martin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Link to amazon.com

And, lo, a noise from above

The A/C people are still here. There are strange and mysterious sounds issuing from the attic and the garage. I've locked the two kittens away because one of them (Mouse, of course) was far too curious about what was going on and the other would soon have bucked up her courage and gone 'sploring as well. Annie is hiding under the sofa and refuses to come out, and Goblin is stretched on top of my cross stitch stash box napping away as if strange noise routinely issued from the ceiling. Me? Between the coughing and being unable to breathe, well, let's just say I'm not having fun.

I say, Noah, where'd you park the boat?

It is raining. Again. Still. According to the weather report, it will rain for the next seven days.

And the A/C people are here to replace the unit. In the rain. With occasional thunder and lightning.

Sometimes I just wonder . . .

Look, Mr. Freeze! The Caped Crusader finally arrived

. . . and left. The A/C repairman showed up at almost 7 p.m. I climbed around with him looking at all the things that were either already broken or on the verge of breaking. The goods news is, I get another day off work. Bad news is, I get to spend it watching workmen replace my entire A/C system.

Oh, the joys of homeownership!

Not just sick

. . . but stuck in a house without air conditioning as well. It went out yesterday and it is sweltering. I have a service call in but I haven't heard back from the tech to actually schedule a visit to find out what's wrong. If I could actually sit up for more than a bit here and a bit there, I would go in to work just to get cool.

The truck that ran over me yesterday

. . . has backed up and parked on me today. Still very much sick so Goblin will have to wait another day.

But sick and tired isn't sick and tired of me

If anything, I feel very much worse than I did this afternoon. I was going to put up a picture of Goblin, but I can barely sit here and type so Goblin will have to wait until tomorrow.

Now that I've moaned about being sick

. . . here's a bit of humor I found in my mailbox this morning . . . um, afternoon . . . It is afternoon, isn't it?

Murder Trial

A defendant was on trial for murder. There was strong evidence indicating guilt, but there was no corpse. In the defense's closing statement the lawyer, knowing that his client would probably be convicted, resorted to a trick.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I have a surprise for you all," the lawyer said as he looked at his watch. "Within one minute, the person presumed dead in this case will walk into this courtroom." He looked toward the courtroom door. The jurors, somewhat stunned, all looked on eagerly. A minute passed. Nothing happened.

Finally the lawyer said, "Actually, I made up the previous statement. But, you all looked on with anticipation. I therefore put to you that you have a reasonable doubt in this case as to whether anyone was killed and insist that you return a verdict of not guilty."

The jury, clearly confused, retired to deliberate. A few minutes later, the jury returned and pronounced a verdict of guilty.

"But how?" inquired the lawyer. "You must have had some doubt; I saw all of you stare at the door."

The jury foreman replied, "Oh, we looked--but your client didn't."

I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired

I don't know if what I have is a cold or 'flu or just a nasty allergy flare up, but I think what the dog drug up and what the cat buried feel much, much better than what I do. I've been miserable all weekend with this whatever it is thing getting worse and worse every day. I'm inclined to think it's allergies because we have just moved into a new building at work, a building in which they were still painting and laying floor tile all week long. Not to mention all the dust from packing and unpacking. Ooooohhhhh, I'm just so miserable. Feel sorry for me.

Not With a Whimper, Either

. . . by Tad Williams, short story contained in the DAW 30th Anniversary Science Fiction Anthology.

:)

Annie

Annie is the first cat I added to my household after I divorced. I got her in October, 1995. I think she must have been about 10 or 12 weeks old at the time based on her size and general development. Some friends had found her wandering lost and bedraggled in a parking lot, so they picked her up and took her home. At the time, they already had 9 or 10 cats gracing their household so they asked me to take her. I reluctantly agreed. I'd only been divorced about a year and was living in an apartment and I just couldn't imagine leaving a kitten alone all day while I was at work. But took her I did.

Chris and Kerry had named her Annabelle, but the name just didn't suit her. It was too big for the little cat she was. The minute she entered my apartment and planted herself on my chest to nap, she became Annie.

As you can see from the picture, Annie has orange points. After some discussion on the topic at Shadowmarch, I've come to the conclusion that Annie is a red point traditional colorpoint shorthair mix. (Colorpoint shorthair is the American term for a Siamese whose points are a color other than the standard four recognized for a Siamese.) Although you cannot see it in this picture of her, she has slightly almond shaped eyes of an amazingly speckled blue.

Mouse in the house

Not that kind, silly. My kind. My son Alex interrupted her roll in the catnip to snap her picture.

One of those emails

You know the kind. They've been emailed by everyone in the known universe to everyone else in the known universe . . . twice . . . on all the days of the week ending in 'y'. Normally I read and delete but this one just plain annoyed me. Don't get me wrong. I'm not really annoyed with the person who sent it to me. I'm just royally ticked off at the person who started it. Before I say more, here it is:

DON'T BUY PEPSI IN THE NEW CAN

Don't buy Pepsi in the new can. Pepsi has a new "patriotic" can coming out with pictures of the Empire State Bldg. and the Pledge of Allegiance on them. However, Pepsi left out two little words on the pledge, "Under God". Pepsi said they did not want to offend anyone. If this is true, then we don't want to offend anyone at the Pepsi corporate office. If we do not buy any Pepsi product, they will not be offended when they receive our money that has the words " In God we trust " on it.

HOW FAST CAN YOU FORWARD THIS ONE???

How fast can I forward this one? At the speed of never, thank you for asking. I don't actually drink Pepsi so I have no idea if Pepsi is or has produced a can as described or what Pepsi's motives are for doing whatever it is they did or didn't, will or won't do. What I do know is that the words "under God" were not - let me repeat that - the words "under God" were not in the Pledge of Allegiance as originally penned in 1892 by Francis Bellamy, a Baptist minister, nor were they in there in 1945 when the pledge was officially recognized as a symbol of the U. S. It was not until 1954 that the words were added by Congress at the petition of the Knights of Columbus. The words were added to distinguish god-fearing America from the atheist Soviet Union during the height of the Red Scare fueled by McCarthy and his ilk.

When all is said and done, bottom line, those two words have nothing to do with God or divinity by whatever word you choose to use. They are the by-product of a witch hunt that ruined countless lives and fostered an attitude of hostility, prejudice, and persecution that is still alive and well today. But we're no longer hunting pinko commies. We're going after anyone who dares to have an opinion contrary to whatever the Bandwagon Opinion of the Week is. We're going after people who dare to ask 'why' and who won't settle for 'because' as an answer. Phrased the way it is, that email is nothing more than petty hate mail. It earns the original scribe nothing more than my contempt.

And having ranted like a lunatic raving at the moon, let me leave you with one last thought . . .

Do you know what salute was originally intended to be used when saying the Pledge of Allegiance?

Yes?

No?

Let me give you a hint . . . it was similar to one used to salute an Austrian man who came to power in Germany.

Sigh . . . .

Your Husband Generator by Lady_Galadriel
Name
Your Husband Is
You Met	in the park
You Have	0 children but 7 pets
You Live	italy
In	a country house
You And Your Partner Are Best Known For	your commitment
Created with the ORIGINAL MemeGen!

! Cat Fight !

Miss Muggles, my tortoise shell kitten, and Mouse, my white kitten, were captured by my son Alex as they tussled in the catnip.



I think they are just too cute for words and so I'm making the world suffer by putting up pictures of them everywhere.

It should have been good night, but it's good morning instead

I was going to sign off with this joke last night, but the nasty compu-grinch wouldn't let me so it will have to be the thought that starts the day. I don't remember where I got it from so I can't give proper credit where it is due. I hope whoever originated it will forgive me for sharing.

Texas Women

Three men were sitting together bragging about how they had set their new wives straight on their duties.

The first man had married a woman from Oklahoma. He bragged that he had told his wife to do all the dishes and clean the house. He said that it took her a couple of days, but on the third day he came home to a clean house and the dishes were all washed and put away.

The second man had married a woman from Arkansas. He bragged that he had given his wife orders that she was to do all the cleaning, dishes, and the cooking. He told the men that the first day he didn't see any results, but by the next day it was better, and on the third day, his house was clean, the dishes were done and he had a huge dinner on the table.

The third man had married a Texas girl. He boasted that he told her his house was to be cleaned, dishes washed, the cooking done and laundry folded. And this was all her responsibility. He said the first day he didn't see anything and the second day he didn't see anything but by the third day some of the swelling had gone down so he could see a little out of his left eye!

Got to love Texas women!

Ooooo, look what I did

I've modified one of the templates using my own backgrounds and color schemes. The new paint job is fairly easy on my eyes using my computer at home, but that doesn't really tell me anything. Not every monitor/graphics card combination is tuned the way mine is, so I've asked a few friends to pop in and critique the decor by leaving comments. That's right. Leave comments! I need to make sure I plastered all the holes on those walls as well and I just plain refuse to comment one of my own posts.

This is the background I used for the version of my blog active today. It can be found at Graphics From Glynn Garthold and is one of my designs.

Momma, can you see me?

BBC NEWS | Technology | Inventor plans 'invisible walls'

While in theory this is the coolest thing, I found it just the tiniest bit disturbing. Being a paranoid from way back before time existed, I couldn't really come up with anything I would call a positive for this technology. The first thought that popped into my head was invisible stalker and I don't mean the D&D kind. Even the potential "espionage and military purposes" vaguely hinted at in the article scream invasion of privacy and personal integrity.

I'm all for bringing the outside in, but I'd rather it be done some other way.

The last word

You didn't really believe that, did you?

The and his nasty little worm managed to infect another computer. This computer was apparently let loose in the wild without benefit of anti-virus software to protect its itty bitty self from all the bad people in the world.

But the workday is done and I am about to sit myself before the Great Mind Numbing Machine to unwind. I'm sure I can find some pleasant background noise to keep me company while I read and snuggle with the cats.

And speaking of cats, I'll leave you with the image of what an intrigued kitten looks like from behind . . .


(Mouse, picture taken June 10, 2004)

Equine posterior . . . or something like . . .

I'd like to take a moment to thank the inconsiderate, immature, self-absorbed who wrote the W32.Erkez.B@mm worm. We need more people like him so people like me can invest a morning removing the infection from the one computer in the company that doesn't have its virus protection turned on and checking every other computer and server on the network to make sure the worm hasn't dug in somehow elsewhere.

Thanks, dude!

And something else . . .

Wow! I was awakened very early this morning by the sound of rain pouring on my roof and thunder knocking at my door. It's eased up a bit now but it was quite ferocious at around 4 a.m. when I first awakened. We've had so much rain this year it appears Mother Nature is trying to make amends for the dryish year or two she gave us last.

Just thought of something

It would be terribly remiss of me if I didn't let everyone know about the place I spend most of my online time. That place is Shadowmarch. I invite you to drop in and visit. The site is graciously hosted by the man we Smarchers call the Dogly One, but who is better known to the rest of the world as Tad Williams, the author of The War of the Flowers and the forthcoming Shadowmarch.

Saying something . . .

Well . . . something . . .

Having said that, I'm now at a loss what to say in this my first blog entry. That, of course, is a fairly unusual happenstance for me. For the sake of argument, let's just say I've said something and let it go at that until I really have something to say. Yes, definitely, that just about says it all.

Ta for the time being . . .

30th Anniversary DAW Fantasy by Elizabeth R. Wollheim
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

There were three stories I particularly liked for no better reason than they suited the mood I was in when I was reading them. They are by no means the only good ones in the book, but they were the ones I felt a resonance with. Ending and Beginning, by Jennifer Roberson, is set in her new world about which she is currently penning her first novel. I also enjoyed A Perfect Day in Valdemar by Larry Dixon. In and of itself the story was excellent, but even if it hadn't been, this is one of those stories where the end would justify the means. And lastly, I enjoyed Lynn Abbey's It's About Squirrels . . .. It's an urban fantasy involving Florida, pallbearer squirrels, and a crashed hard drive. What more could you want in a story?

Death and the Librarian and Other Stories by Esther M. Friesner
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Link to amazon.com

The Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Link to amazon.com

The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Link to amazon.com

1610 by Mary Gentle
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Link to amazon.com

The Collected Short Fiction of C.J. Cherryh by C.J. Cherryh
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Link to amazon.com

In the Forests of Serre by Patricia A. McKillip
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Link to amazon.com

The Paladin by C.J. Cherryh
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Link to amazon.com

The Wood Wife by Terri Windling
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Link to amazon.com

To Reign in Hell by Steven Brust
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Link to amamzon.com

Cowboy Feng's Space Bar and Grille by Steven Brust
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Link to amazon.com

Alphabet of Thorn by Patricia A. McKillip
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Link to amazon.com

Driving Over Lemons: An Optimist in Spain by Chris Stewart
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Link to amazon.com

Mulengro by Charles de Lint
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Link to amazon.com

The Last Light of the Sun by Guy Gavriel Kay
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Link to amazon.com

Legends II by Robert Silverberg
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Link to amazon.com

Thieves' World: First Blood by Lynn Abbey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Link to amazon.com

Impossible Odds by Dave Duncan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Link to amazon.com

Remake by Connie Willis
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Link to amazon.com

The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Link to amazon.com

Paragon Lost by Dave Duncan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Link to amazon.com

Dragon's Lair by Sharon Kay Penman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Link to amazon.com