Don't cross this one

Tropical storm Durian continues to move out of our region, traveling west northwest at 14 mph according to the National Weather Service Office in Tiyan. (Guam Pacific Daily News)

It's the Great Pumpkin from Hell

(from Robot Chicken)

Not exactly from the Great Lakes, but close

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Inland North   You may think you speak "Standard English straight out of the dictionary" but when you step away from the Great Lakes you get asked annoying questions like "Are you from Wisconsin?" or "Are you from Chicago?" Chances are you call carbonated drinks "pop."
The Midland
The Northeast
Philadelphia
The South
The West
Boston
North Central
What American accent do you have? Take More Quizzes

The Inmates Are in Charge of the Asylum

Clayton Cramer gives us an interesting case where this may have been literally true.

I am not having a lot of great thoughts

And I am not normally one to be quoting Nietzsche, mind you.

"All truly great thoughts are conceived by walking."
-- Friedrich Nietzsche

Those Oracle lawyers are really scary

"You will not use the Programs for, and will not allow the Programs to be used for, any purposes prohibited by United States law, including, without limitation, for the development, design, manufacture or production of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons of mass destruction."
-- Oracle Technology Network Developer License Terms

My ex-cell phone company doesn't understand this either

4PM This Dramatization of the Importance of Negative Numbers Is the Grittiest Schoolhouse Rock Yet

CSR: Customer Service, this is Sheri*. May I have your account number please?
Customer: Why is my account negative?!
CSR: Well, if you give me your account number I can look it up and go over your transactions with you.

Customer gives information, CSR verifies, and the conversation continues.

CSR: Well, Ma'am, looks like your opening deposit on Tuesday was 25 dollars... And then you withdrew 40 dollars from the ATM on Friday.
Customer: And...?
CSR: Well, 25 dollars minus 40 dollars is negative 15 dollars.
Customer: I don't understand what you are trying to tell me.

Minneapolis, Minnesota

via Overheard in the Office, Nov 22, 2006

Do you have any memory

"It is not a simple life to be a single cell, although I have no right to say so, having been a single cell so long ago myself that I have no memory at all of that stage of my life."
—Lewis Thomas (1913–1993) author, biologist, physician

Atia vs. Servilia

Which team do you support?

Wigu is back!

Wigu is back!

I am, just slightly, excited about this.

WIGU IS BACK!!!

Matilda

'Matilda Who Told Lies, And Was Burned to Death'
by Hillaire Belloc

Matilda told such Dreadful Lies,
It made one Gasp and Stretch one's Eyes;
Her Aunt, who, from her Earliest Youth,
Had kept a Strict Regard for Truth,
Attempted to Believe Matilda:
The effort very nearly killed her,
And would have done so, had not She
Discovered this Infirmity.

For once, towards the Close of Day,
Matilda, growing tired of play,
And finding she was left alone,
Went tiptoe to the Telephone
And summoned the Immediate Aid
Of London's Noble Fire-Brigade.

Within an hour the Gallant Band
Were pouring in on every hand,
From Putney, Hackney Downs, and Bow
With Courage high and Hearts aglow
They galloped, roaring through the Town,
'Matilda's House is Burning Down!'

Inspired by British Cheers and Loud
Proceeding from the Frenzied Crowd,
They ran their ladders through a score
Of windows on the Ball Room Floor;
And took Peculiar Pains to Souse
The Pictures up and down the House,

Until Matilda's Aunt succeeded
In showing them they were not needed;
And even then she had to pay
To get the Men to go away! . . . .

It happened that a few Weeks later
Her Aunt was off to the Theatre
To see that Interesting Play
The Second Mrs Tanqueray.
She had refused to take her
Niece To hear this entertaining Piece:
A Deprivation Just and Wise
To Punish her for Telling Lies.

That Night a Fire did break out -
You should have heard Matilda Shout!
You should have heard her Scream and Bawl,
And throw the window up and call
To People passing in the Street -

(The rapidly increasing Heat
Encouraging her to obtain
Their confidence) - but all in vain!
For every time She shouted 'Fire!'
They only answered 'Little Liar'!
And therefore when her Aunt returned,
Matilda, and the House, were Burned.

The Great Traffic Inflation

Moscow streets are a nightmarish clog of some 3 million cars, a 12-fold increase since the end of Communism. (via Kibo)

The Great Inflation

A few months ago I recommended Supply-Side University as a good read about economics. It's now defunct, with the passing of Jude Wanniski, but a new site supplysideforum.com has picked up publishing articles from this point of view.

Here is a November 1 article entitled The Learning Curve of the Federal Reserve which is enlightening about where inflation comes from and the tenets of supply side economics. As I said last time, read this -- you may learn something since this theory is almost certainly not what you think it is.

Fingers

marriedtothesea.com

We entrust the homeland to these people

'Good-Enough Parenting' Is a Fairly Elastic Concept

Coworker #1: So, your daughter's learning to walk yet?
Coworker #2: Nah, not yet, but she can stand up and she falls down the stairs real good.
Coworker #1: What?
Coworker #2: Yeah, she did that last night. Scared me real good.
Coworker #1: Eh, don't worry. Once I dropped mine from a good height. About three or four feet. I didn't worry cause she started laughing.

Department of Homeland Security

Overheard by: scared of having children

via Overheard in the Office, Nov 9, 2006

Down

OK this is strange, it looks like everyone's site on Blogger is down right now except for mine.

I'm special.

My bizarre house

Mark: What is this, there's something on the knife.
Bryan: Maybe it's a crumb or something.
Mark: Oh yeah, ok, it just looks like a crumb.
Cow: Really?
Mark: Yes Cow, it's really a crumb.

The 70's (more)

Except of course that the Carter guy running for office (this time in Nevada) lost pretty badly, it appears.

Speaking of the 70's

After tonight's election results I feel like I'm living through the 70's again.

November 3rd's test

The movie quote came from Top Secret. I thought it was the best quote in the film, but then again I lived through the 70's.

It's sad that I have to ask a web site

You Are 84% Gentleman

No doubt about it, you are a total gentleman. You please the pickiest ladies, and you make everyone in a room feel comfortable.

Are You A Gentleman?

I don't know anyone like this

Lottery Board: Eeexcellent!

Customer: These ice cream cones and $100 in lotto tickets.
Store clerk: Ok, $106.39
Customer: What? These ice creams cost $6! What a waste of money! No, I dont want them. What a waste. Seriously! No, no just the lotto tickets.

Eastlake Mart,
Seattle, Washington

Overheard by: kallisti

via Overheard in the Office, Nov 6, 2006

Here too

Varifrank is on the receiving end of a lot of political phone calls.

In this household there is one independent (me) and one member of a third party. We are getting hit up continuously with political phone calls, the vast majority of which are from Republicans (although there is a local school referendum on the ballot that is precipitating some phone calls from the teachers' union.)

Another one

Hillary Flammond: My uncle was born in America.
Nick Rivers: Oh, really?
Hillary Flammond: But he was one of the lucky ones. He managed to escape in a balloon during the Jimmy Carter presidency.

I forgot

Did you guess the movie on October 15? Murder By Death. Too obvious?

OK perhaps it's quote season

A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can let alone.

-- Henry David Thoreau