SO glad I was not born with a "Y" chromosome...

...Because when someone bets me 10 bucks to eat a combination of mayonaise, applesauce, ketchup, and chocolate milk, I don't feel the need to accept the bet.

And then I don't spend the afternoon throwing up so that my mom has to pick me up from school.

Unlike my son.

Sigh.

And to finalize the punishment that Mother Nature began, I told him, "Hey. 10 bucks will just about cover the gas money to get to school, and having to pay a second time to park (the joys of working downtown). I think that's mine now!"

I also suggested that when he's feeling better, he might want to look up the word emetic... :)

Tricksy hobbitses...

A new species of human was discovered a couple years ago, and the title link shows some new details about the discovery. What I find interesting was that this was a three-foot tool-using hominid that apparently existed alongside Homo Sapiens, not so very long ago in cosmic terms. Sure, this has just been discovered in Indonesia right now... but could this species have existed elsewhere? Like, perhaps, the British Isles? And if so, could this be where the legends of elves came from? Just a thought...

Ancient Geekery

Well, in thinking about the First Smiley, and thinking back to my BBS-ing days [insert quavery voice here: "You young whippersnappers are spoiled by all these graphics! In my day we had amber screens and 300 baud modems and were HAPPY about them, I tell you!"]... I found this site:

http://www.textfiles.com/

What's scary is how much of this stuff I -remember-.

no, NOT the cracker/phreak stuff. Surprisingly, I did not have any friends who were into that at the time. I suspect I saw most of the files from the 'occult' section in close-to-original postings, though...

Happy birthday to :-)

So if the first emoticon was created 25 years ago, what system would that have been on? The article just says an "electronic bulletin board system." CompuServe, do you suppose? Or something like FIDONet? Was FIDONet around 25 years ago? Now I'll have to look that up...

(of course, the fact that I remember ANY of this identifies me as (a) too much of a geek, and (b) Way Too Old. :-) )

Okay, someone 'splain this to me...

A town in Germany is trying to reduce accidents by removing all traffic signals, lights, etc: http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSGOR14512420070911
Say what?

How does this reduce accidents?

I'm not saying I know anything at all about this... just, it defies common sense.

(not that I have so much of that, now that I think about it...) :)

edited to add the Wikipedia link that explains the theory - not that it helps me understand it much... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shared_space

Woad Warriors?

I work in downtown Indy, and for a moment, I got all excited while walking in to work...

...But then I realized the blue paint on the guys' faces was NOT woad, and the guys were Colts fans, NOT Celts preparing for battle. :)

It's NFL kick-off time, and in typical Indianapolis style, we're making a big fat hairy deal of getting to be the season opener. "Oh my gosh, Indianapolis is going to be on national television! We'd better try to make it look good!" So there's a free concert on the Circle starring Faith Hill, Kelly Clarkson, and Hinder, and home-grown John Mellencamp is performing in the Dome (I still call it the Hoosier Dome; I don't care how much RCA spent to get their name on there...) before the game.

And, I work one building south of the Circle, on Meridian Street. So there is security everywhere, and all the local news channels have been broadcasting from in front of my building. It's been an insane-a-thon all week.

But hey, I got to hear Faith Hill yesterday, right next to me. Well, she SOUNDED like she was right next to me. She was rehearsing at about 4PM. Because they have set up gi-normous speakers for the concert, I can sit here in my office and hear perfectly, as if I were right on the stage next to 'em. Fortunately, our office is closing before the actual concert today, or we'd never get out of our building.

That, and every time someone plays a strong bass note, it VIBRATES THE WHOLE BUILDING. Somehow I wouldn't be surprised if we have broken windows before the night is over. Just hope not the one right next to MY computer! :)