Astronomy Picture of the Day

A Twisted Solar Eruptive Prominence
Credit: SOHO Consortium, EIT, ESA, NASA

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Now playing: Edouard Lalo - Symphonie espagnole Op. 21: V. Rondo. Allegro
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I love a good pun

And a pun with kitties is the best!


more cat pictures

'Darth Vadar' spared jail in Jedi church attacks

Another one for the "Now I've seen everything!" list - http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080514/ap_on_fe_st/odd_britain_vader_raider

Pun's the word

more cat pictures

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Now playing: Qntal - Ad mortem festinamus
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I love lists of books

This one seems to be making the rounds right now. I've come across it on a couple of blogs I read so I thought I might as well get on board especially since I am an actual LibraryThing-er (LibraryThing-y?)

What we have here is the top 106 books most often marked as "unread" by LibraryThing’s users. As in, they sit on the shelf to make you look smart or well-rounded. Bold the ones you've read, underline the ones you read for school, italicize the ones you started but didn't finish.

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Anna Karenina
Crime and Punishment
Catch-22
One Hundred Years of Solitude

Wuthering Heights
The Silmarillion
Life of Pi : a novel
The Name of the Rose
Don Quixote
Moby Dick

Ulysses
Madame Bovary
The Odyssey
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Eyre

The Tale of Two Cities
The Brothers Karamazov
Guns, Germs, and Steel: the fates of human societies
War and Peace
Vanity Fair

The Time Traveler’s Wife
The Iliad
Emma
The Blind Assassin
The Kite Runner

Mrs. Dalloway
Great Expectations
American Gods
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
Atlas Shrugged

Reading Lolita in Tehran : a memoir in books
Memoirs of a Geisha
Middlesex
Quicksilver
Wicked : the life and times of the wicked witch of the West

The Canterbury Tales
The Historian : a novel
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Love in the Time of Cholera
Brave New World

The Fountainhead
Foucault’s Pendulum
Middlemarch
Frankenstein
The Count of Monte Cristo

Dracula
A Clockwork Orange
Anansi Boys
The Once and Future King
The Grapes of Wrath

The Poisonwood Bible : a novel
1984
Angels & Demons
The Inferno (and Purgatory and Paradise)
The Satanic Verses

Sense and Sensibility
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Mansfield Park
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
To the Lighthouse

Tess of the D’Urbervilles
Gulliver’s Travels
Les Misérables
The Corrections
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Dune
The Prince
The Sound and the Fury
Angela’s Ashes : a memoir

The God of Small Things
A People’s History of the United States : 1492-present
Cryptonomicon
Neverwhere
A Confederacy of Dunces

A Short History of Nearly Everything
Dubliners
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Beloved
Slaughterhouse-five

The Scarlet Letter
Eats, Shoots & Leaves
The Mists of Avalon
Oryx and Crake : a novel
Collapse : how societies choose to fail or succeed

Cloud Atlas
The Confusion
Lolita
Persuasion
Northanger Abbey

The Catcher in the Rye
On the Road
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Freakonomics : a rogue economist explores the hidden side of everything
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance : an inquiry into values

The Aeneid
Watership Down
Gravity’s Rainbow
The Hobbit
In Cold Blood : a true account of a multiple murder and its consequences

White Teeth
Treasure Island
David Copperfield
The Three Musketeers

Softball opponents offer unique display of sportsmanship

http://blog.oregonlive.com/breakingnews/2008/04/the_best_tale_of_sportsmanship.html

I don't know what to say

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Psst! Best Friend, look!

@->- Just for you -<-@





HIPPO BIRDIE TWO EWE!

And Engineer's Guide to Cats

Horus and Bear

Horus attempting to investigate the camera


Bear being nonchalant

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Now playing: Coldplay - Clocks
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In my yard

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Now playing: Anuna - Christus Resurgens
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Alien plant life

OK, it's not really alien plant life, but there are some huge mushrooms growing on a median here in town. I've been noticing them for a while and today I finally broke down and took a couple of snaps of some of them. And being the kind and generous person that I am - stop snickering, it's not polite - I'm sharing the best photo of them here.



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Now playing: Trans-Siberian Orchestra - Christmas Canon
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(I know it's April and that's a Christmas carol playing, but it's one of my favorites so I see no reason not to listen to it when the mood strikes - or it comes up in rotation in my music library.)

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Now playing: Trans-Siberian Orchestra - Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24)
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(Yep, and that's another one. Also a favorite.)

Parents Fight Over Which Gang Toddler Should Join

(http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/15851207/detail.html)

I'm not even sure how to respond to something like this. I cannot imagine a more heartbreaking ambition for my child than wanting him to suffer the same meaningless life I lead. The deliberate destruction of hope just leaves me speechless.

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Now playing: Sisters of Mercy - Black Planet
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Things have been boring

Nothing much is going on. I've managed to make a nice dent in my TBR pile. Unfortunately, as soon as I finish a book I seem to replace it with at least two more.

I'm currently reading a book called "Too Big To Miss" by Sue Ann Jaffarian about a large sized woman sleuth who looks into the apparent suicide of a friend. I've only read the first three chapters but I suspect I will buy the rest of the books about Odelia Grey. I have so completely identified with the character it's truly frightening. Not only do we share a love of cheesecake and Thin Mints (or whatever those Girl Scout cookies are called), but we also have cats (one in her case, several in mine) who've moved in with us because they wanted to. And there's the sense of humor and the way of looking at the world.

Or maybe it's just finally there's a character I can actually relate to.




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Now playing: Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)
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Happy Easter

And so do I

see more crazy cat pics

I sympathize entirely

see more crazy cat pics

~ snarf ~

Your Monster Profile

War Goblin You Feast On: Tofu You Lurk Around In: Shopping Malls You Especially Like to Torment: Lawyers

What's Your Monster Name?

Talk smart

Your Dominant Intelligence is Linguistic Intelligence

You are excellent with words and language. You explain yourself well. An elegant speaker, you can converse well with anyone on the fly. You are also good at remembering information and convincing someone of your point of view. A master of creative phrasing and unique words, you enjoy expanding your vocabulary. You would make a fantastic poet, journalist, writer, teacher, lawyer, politician, or translator.

What Kind of Intelligence Do You Have?

Hey! Mr. Thursday Night Poker Game!

Have a cold one



and a game or two



and enjoy your birthday!

Yoohoo! Karen!

Sure and begorra, 'tis a fine day!

The History of St. Patrick's Day


Not your standard shamrock . . .

Inside/outside Izzy

I don't think I've mentioned that Izzy has decided she is an inside/outside cat. She has and she's quite adamant about it. When I got home from my ramble, she greeted me as I got out of the car.


And then she had to show me how happy she was to see me so I could let her back in the house to eat and drink.


Silly kitty!

Ghostly Rainbow

I tried to snap a pic of Rainbow, but she decided to move so I have this ghostly image of her. I still think it's kewl the way that happens.

More from my yard

When did here become profoundly ugly?

I took a drive around today because it was such a glorious day. Had my camera with me. Expected to take a bunch of pictures along the highway and at the park and at the beach.

Nope. No pictures. There was nothing I even remotely wanted to photograph. Not between here and the beach. Everything was so incredibly, profoundly ugly. And I just wasn't in the mood to capture ugly. Didn't want to save for posterity the sight of chemical plants butting up to the highway. Didn't want to capture all those awful beach shacks that have gone up along the ocean. Didn't groove to pasty middle-aged folk knocking back beer and sitting in lawn chairs next to their pickups parked along the waterline. Really didn't want to see pasty, flabby teenagers wearing mostly nothing clustered around their cars way back from the waterline.

I think this means I really need a vacation to someplace photogenic, or at least someplace that isn't profoundly ugly.

My front yard

I really had to laugh at this

see more crazy cat pics

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Now playing: T'Pau - Heart and Soul
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Getting my geek on

Happy Pi Day!

Well, this is interesting

OK, it probably isn't to everybody else on the planet, but it is to me. I was messing around getting some email accounts created at (in . . . on?) my domain so I thought I'd take a gander at some statistics since I haven't done that in a while. My little corner of the 'web seems to be popular in Norway (2.24%), Germany (2.22%), and France (1.05%). When you keep in mind that slightly better than 91% of all my web traffic comes from ".com", ".net", and ".edu", those percentages are pretty impressive.

I wonder who I know in Norway and France. I know who I know in Germany but I don't think she's generating all that traffic by her little lonesome.

I also wonder which blog is generating all the traffic. Instinct tells me it's my crafty one since there are a lot of knitters in Europe.

So, anyway, if you're from Norway, Germany, or France - or any other place, for that matter - leave a comment and say "Hi!".

I know how to spell my name, too

Your Score: Owl

You scored 14 Ego, 7 Anxiety, and 10 Agency!

"Correct me if I am wrong," he said, "but am I right in
supposing that it is a very Blusterous day outside?"

"Very," said Piglet, who was quietly thawing his ears,
and wishing that he was safely back in his own house.

"I thought so," said O-wl. "It was on just such a
blusterous day as this that my Uncle Robert, a portrait of whom
you see upon the wall on your right, Piglet, while returning in
the late forenoon from a-- What's that?"

You scored as Owl!

ABOUT OWL: Owl is considered highly educated because he can spell his own name (WOL) and he can even spell Tuesday... although he doesn't always get it right. Owl is a good sort, really, although he can be a bit of a stuffed shirt, and he tends to overlook the smaller details in life - like the fact that his bellpull is actually someone's tail.

WHAT THIS SAYS ABOUT YOU: You are confident and you feel capable of dealing with whatever life throws at you. You know that you can handle just about everything... mostly because you know how to delegate the job of actually handling things to the people around you. You aren't one of those Bisy Backsons, who rush around trying to do everything at once. You prefer to stay at home and reflect on life, rather than go out and live it.

Sometimes, you know, you need to stop waiting for things to come to you and go out and get them. You need to go enjoy the weather, smell the fresh air, and pay attention to the little people in your life. They may not be as great as you... but maybe they could use your help.

Link: The Deep and Meaningful Winnie-The-Pooh Character Test written by wolfcaroling on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test View My Profile(wolfcaroling)

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Now playing: Qntal - Ad mortem festinamus
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Never had a use for the rules, but still . . .

My TBR pile

Just felt like sharing . . .



This is the portion of my to be read pile on my desk where I can keep an eye on it.



And this is the portion of my pile stacked next to my desk where I can trip over it in the dark when I make my way to the bathroom in the middle of the night.


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Now playing: Three Dog Night - One
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Mauna Kea Shadow Eclipse

Shadow In Shadow from Alex Mukensnable on Vimeo.

I stumbled across a still from this video at the Astronomy Picture of the Day site. It was just too kewl to pass up.


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Now playing: Kelly Clarkson - Miss Independent
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Yeowda

WashingtonPost.com | Predatory Lenders' Partner in Crime

How the Bush Administration Stopped the States From Stepping In to Help Consumers

By Eliot Spitzer
Thursday, February 14, 2008; Page A25

Several years ago, state attorneys general and others involved in consumer protection began to notice a marked increase in a range of predatory lending practices by mortgage lenders. Some were misrepresenting the terms of loans, making loans without regard to consumers' ability to repay, making loans with deceptive "teaser" rates that later ballooned astronomically, packing loans with undisclosed charges and fees, or even paying illegal kickbacks. These and other practices, we noticed, were having a devastating effect on home buyers. In addition, the widespread nature of these practices, if left unchecked, threatened our financial markets.

Even though predatory lending was becoming a national problem, the Bush administration looked the other way and did nothing to protect American homeowners. In fact, the government chose instead to align itself with the banks that were victimizing consumers.

... continue . . .

I promised you a picture

But it's not really very helpful, is it? Loki just did not have any interest in cooperating. He was bound and determined to show me his back no matter what I tried to distract him with. Oh, well. Can't really say I blame him.



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Now playing: Evanescence - Call Me When You're Sober
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Boy gone

Loki became gender neutral yesterday. He's back home from the vet's today and he doesn't seem to be the worse for wear although he did insist on chatting with me when I first got home. Poor thing had to tell me just how traumatized he was by his first trip away from home and how he really, really, really didn't appreciate being left at that nasty, strange place.

Normally I would have pictures to go with a post like this, but the rechargeable batteries in my camera finally gave up the ghost after almost four years and I just don't have any others handy at the moment so pictures will have to wait. I guess I should really look online for more batteries for the camera, but I'm feeling lazy right at this moment. It is Friday night after all and I am right in the middle of a really good book.

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Now playing: Azam Ali - Ben Pode Santa Maria
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so, u wantz marry her?

Definitely two thumbs up for originality.

Kind of an update

Did I ever mention the ordeal of the finger caused an outbreak of psoriasis which lead to an extremely debilitating case of psoriatic arthritis for which I've been undergoing Remicade treatment since December? Personally, I think it was the steroid treatment that sent my system into such shock which caused the psoriasis which led to the arthritis which pretty much kept me from doing anything. Ask the Prodigal Son . . . he had to open bags of chips for me as well as jars and doors since I couldn't really grasp doorknobs to turn them. When I say the arthritis was debilitating, I am not kidding. I was becoming concerned about my job because it was becoming increasingly difficult for me to drive to get to it not to mention losing the manual dexterity needed to perform some of it.

However, the Remicade treatments I've undergone have worked miracles. The arthritis is under control and I'm all but back to being my annoyingly cheerful self.

On the other hand, the finger still isn't 100%, but at least I can mostly use it to do mostly normal things like holding cups and cutting my own meat. Per the hand surgeon, I've at least another six months of self inflicted therapy to go through before I can give up and just learn to live with a finger that isn't 100%.

Right now I'm in the process of psyching myself up to trying to knit again since the finger and the arthritis made it impossible for me to do it. I have a scarf on the needles I started last year before all this finger nonsense started that I'm going to rip out and redo. I think. Well, it's certain I'll rip it out because I screwed it up badly when I thought I was recovered enough to knit to actually knit on it a bit that the perfectionist in me just won't let it go on. Whether or not I'll retry this pattern with this yarn . . . well, that's the question, isn't it?

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Now playing: Evanescence - Lacrymosa
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Makes me hungry

moar funny pictures


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Now playing: Mocedades - Eres Tu
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Just too cool

moar funny pictures

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Now playing: Qntal - Entre moi (Alternative)
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Sick

Need I really say more?

Only a splash of beauty

The Recipe For Margit

3 parts Sensitivity 2 parts Panache 1 part Fearlessness Splash of Beauty Finish off with whipped cream

What's the Recipe for Your Personality?

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Now playing: Soft Cell - Tainted Love
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3 Parts Seductiveness (snort)

The Recipe For Seitherin

3 parts Seductiveness 2 parts Vitality 1 part Enchantment Splash of Tolerance Sip slowly on the beach

What's the Recipe for Your Personality?

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Now playing: Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique & John Eliot Gardiner - Symphony No.5 in C Minor: I. Allegro con brio
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Real life muppet or . . .

Seitherin --

[noun]: A hermit living in the big city

'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

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Now playing: Qntal - Ad mortem festinamus
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moar funny pictures

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Now playing: Enya - Someone Said Goodbye
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For someone who doesn't drink, I know a lot about alcohol

83%LUSH

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Now playing: The Killers - Somebody Told Me
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!! HAPPY NEW YEAR !!

May the best thing that happened to you in 2007 be the worst thing that happens in 2008!



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Now playing: Qntal - Unter der Linden

moar funny pictures


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Now playing: Genesis - That's All
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moar funny pictures


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Now playing: Faun - Sirena
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moar funny pictures

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Now playing: Qntal - Am Morgen Fruo
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And especially for the cold and flu season . . .

moar funny pictures


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Now playing: Qntal - Maiden In the Mor
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Gamers will appreciate this one

moar funny pictures

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Now playing: Qntal - Lingua Mendax
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moar funny pictures

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Now playing: Qntal - Lingua Mendax
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I just could not resist

moar funny pictures

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Now playing: Qntal - Flamma
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Entre Moi Et Mon Amin

More of a geek than I thought

	I received 64 credits on The Sci Fi Sounds Quiz How much of a Sci-Fi geek are you?
Guess the Sci-Fi Movie Sounds hereCanon powershot

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Now playing: Qntal - Entre moi (Alternative)
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I can't respond to emails today . . .

moar funny pictures

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Now playing: Mediaeval Baebes - All for Love of One
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What people in the know are reading

~ snarf ~

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000JTOYLS/ref=cm_rdp_product

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00032G1S0/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

Psst! Read the reviews.

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Now playing: Mediaeval Baebes - The Holly and the Ivy
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WashingtonPost.com | A Soldier's Officer