Week of 15 Dec

This wonderfully sinister looking specimen, known to most as the Weeping Willow, was known to all the kids of the neighborhood of Napa where I'd spent some few years before moving to Tahoe, was the Kite Eating Tree. Of course, I'm not aware of the Charlie Brown connection beyond a vague memory of it's mention, & I don't think any of the kids I knew were either. But while I -- & probably others -- loved these trees, which were in front of a number of houses, & were all over along the Napa River & in a pasture through which it ran down the street from my house. With that love came a sense of sheer fright. These trees made very different sounds as wind past through them, & the leaves on them where so thick that none of us would ever climb them. We might never be seen again. I no longer fear these trees, but I miss them, as I see so few of them any longer. At least, none as large & old as those in my childhood.

Finally! An explanation of why, though I call it fascism, so few get me: Researchers at the University of NSW found that patients under the age of 65 suffering from frontotemporal dementia (FTD), the second most common form of dementia, cannot detect when someone is being sarcastic.

Hey, at least there's little chance of brain cancer....

Codex Gigas. A must see.


They're redesigning the site just now, but KickYouTube looks interesting enough to wait for.

Oh, yeah. That's me at the last costume party I'd attended. I won't tell you how drunk I got.

Why women hate men. I may be an exception -- or mutant -- because I'm not the least bit surprized. I wonder how any of us ever get laid. If I were a woman, there's absolutely no way I'd fall for the crap that comes out of our mouths whenever we attempt communication.

Over the course of my many years
genitally tangling with the female
species, I've learned there are
two things women never want men to
bring into the bedroom; sexual
insecurities or Scottish bagpipes.

[Damn, so much for those lessons.]

Nuns always have the best grass!

This is cool: Village of the Zapatistas.

Well, this certainly is a nice use of space in this location, but I doubt I'd be happy there. Besides, I just put a deposit down on a rental in an alley in Reno. Rachael, The Fabuloulsly Deranged Miss R, former tenent tells me that it's private, quiet, & could play her piano or stereo at 3.00am without complaint. I'll be in heaven, man!

Not exactly news, but he's said again: Hawking Predicts Discovery of Alien Life: But Asks, Will It be Carbon Based?

I'm sure you've seen this (larger size here), but check it out. I'm going to be living on the edge of that big dark area of the US surrounded by light as early as next month!

An intriguing, anecdotal finding was recently reported by some news outlets that the implementation of blue-colored streetlights has reduced both crime and suicides. Makes sense to me -- bright, white light always makes me cranky.

Perfect use of a 'puter.

Writers write. But what to do when we're not writing? Read blogs about writing, of course. 22 Blogs Every Writer Should Read.

Faces. Well, mostly faces.

I'd had a really nice animated gif of a hand signing "blow job" here, but Blogger, naturally, disables animated gif's. Creative types don't like restriction, you know?

The recent Greek riots interest me from the standpoint of the result of government mismanagement. Who are they working for if not us, & who do they think their fooling? But, back to the riots, I certainly don't condone what the protesters have done, but I fully appreciate their frustrations & the psychology behind them. Of course, world governments will never graps that riots & revolution are the direct result of thier actions of, by & for the rich. Too bad this kid had to die, he sure looked like a good kid to me.

I may have posted this image before, but it's worth repeating.

Nice set of links for Conspiracies and Mystery School Teachings, with a decent write-up of Aleister Crowley & the Golden Dawn, among other things.

Just found this site. New Mac users, like me, should check FreeMacWare.Com out.

Peanuts:

Oh, yeah! United States Death Map Revealed. Now, you too can determine just how likely it is that you'll die by natrual event from the comfort of your own home! (I prefre un-natural events, anyway.)

Oh, come on! WTF is this? Trend: Dead Take Cell Phones With Them. Just kill me, now. Oh, & be sure to bury me with my pen & notebook.

Whoo-hoo! My kinda site: Long Island Oddities.

Hey, you can't park there.