You are trudging down a service corridor that runs the length of one of the largest malls in the country, easily a half-mile of access doors and service closets. Time has no meaning, under the coolly buzzing fluorescent lights far overhead. It is after midnight, and the temperature-controlled environment has just turned off the air conditioner to conserve power in the off-hours. You glimpse up and see that you’re no longer alone. You’re astounded to have perceived someone so far away in the gray light, but you keep walking, expecting nothing more than a friendly nod as you pass. The person gets closer. You observe that she’s hunched over and appears to glide as she walks, feet hidden by distance and dark clothing. She is closer–a pointed black hat and matching dress with long skirts and is using a broom as a walking stick, bristles up. Closer–a deep emerald-hued face, with a hook-nose and drawn crescent moon chin to complete the Punch and Judy look. You and she are fifty yards apart. You, and the storybook image of the wickedest of witches west of Munchkinland are twenty yards apart. You approach in the increasingly cozy and notably empty hall, alone save for the oncoming evil personage. You nod. She smiles, a comical rictus splitting her face, cackles, and swats your backside with the broom as she passes.

...

Ah, almost as good as being there… Miami Book Fair International is on CSPAN2. (BookTV) right now. Wow, I *really* wish I could be there. So wonderful… the second largest Book fair in the world, just a few miles away. I really have to go next year, if possible. I’d have to commit myself to a certain dollar amount before going, though… I could see myself blowing a *huge* chunk of change if allowed to run unchecked. I’ve been glued to the channel since landing on it about 1pm today. some great speakers, and I really want to buy a number of the books the authors have been speaking about now.

Two in particular stand out and are going on my wish list –

Donovan Webster, “The Burma Road: The Epic Story of the China-Burma-India Theater in World War II”

Eric Schlosser, “Reefer Madness: Sex, Drugs, and Cheap Labor in the American Black Market” (same guy that wrote Fast Food Nation)

Both authors are also wonderful speakers, and really draw you into the topics at hand.

I wonder sometimes about our modern, automated society. When did pre-made clothing become the norm? 19th century? Before that, for the entire history of man wearing clothes, clothes were all tailor made if the funds were available, or put together at home, if you weren’t. Just amazing to me, the little things, sometimes. I take sounds for granted, too. Imagine someone from three hundred years ago.. a time of mostly silence save for sounds that animals and humans made right then (maybe wind chimes?) . Now we’ve got cars, and radio, all sorts of machinery making noise. One has to consider if it’d be deafening to the visitor, given what he was used to.

sartjee: the hottentot venus “Abducted and brought to London in 1810, this young South African girl was put on display at pubs, fairs, museums and universities because of her ‘unusual’ physical appearance. A debate ensued between abolitionists and those who wanted to study her from a scientific point of view. She died at the age of 25, and her skeleton remains in a Paris museum.”

maggot art “Children get hands-on experience with insects that most people find truly disgusting — maggots — while creating a beautiful piece of artwork to share with others.”

Looking at my Clustermap, and I’m a little tickled at how small the world is. Of course, North America is heavily represented, especially in the Northeast and California given how LJ is skewed in that direction.

Just out of interest, I set up the with a map, too. Without even introducing the meme to the community, the globe is really peppered with members. I don’t know if I’ll mention it to the community, because it seems rather off-topic, but I’d love to see the whole community represented there.

Of course, for humility, I checked out the paidmembers map, too. That’s an impressive number of strikes.

Random Scotto Factoid – If you toss candy corn into the time honored mix of salted peanuts and chocolate chips (pseudo trail mix) you get a taste almost exactly lake a Baby Ruth candy bar. Warning, wickedly fattening. First discovered this mixture after Halloween / before Thanksgiving in 1984.

I also like ketchup on eggs.

Arab culture and civilization new encyclopedic site.

Did the cartoon network wait until the lunar eclipse to show the “Eclipso” episode of Justice League, or is it just a remarkable coincidence? All and all, a mighty fine episode. (and I’m glad that Cartoon network is showing the full-hour shows, rather than “part 1-part 2” format. As for the Eclipse, it was pretty neat, what I could see of it.

The Clone Wars ‘toon wasn’t bad, but it was weirdly short. I wasn’t expecting it to be 3 minutes, 30 sec, but it may’ve been just as well.. I don’t know if it could hold up for a half hour. The animation style struck me as rather like the old Clerks cartoon.

DMB was good on SNL last night, though the skit comedy was sort of blah. I’m not really up on famous tennis players.

More and more bad Matrix 3 reviews are rolling in from trusted sources… I may wait until it’s out on video. That’s a pity, because I liked the first one, and the second had some fine moments. (I do want to see the All-girl Bazooka crew, though.)

Something positive on the Screen… A good Movie seen lately- The Lady From Shanghai (1947) by Orson Welles, starring Welles and Rita Hayworth. Superb. If you like noir, you can’t go wrong here. I may pick it up on DVD to keep. I give it a 9/10.

I was in a deep torpor last night…don’t recall my dreams that well, but I woke up with another ten hours of sleep under my belt. The fact that the body can shut down so completely amazes me.

I plan to try this out soon… maybe tote it to thanksgiving dinner?

WEST AFRICAN PEANUT SOUP (via Joy of Soup) Continue reading #6244 TV,Great movie, free fonts, West African Peanut soup, tomacco, mirror web →

(Anyone can vote, Floridian or not, and feel free to add opinions in comments below.)

Volusia County, Florida has no luck. In 1994, a woman was struck by lightning and sued the county for not warning her that the sky occasionally shoots electricity. Three years later, an alligator attacked a little boy and his mother sued Volusia County for not having enough warning signs. (She won $35,000.) Finally, in July of 2000, a young girl was bitten by a shark while she was dangling her leg in shark-infested waters, and last month she filed a suit complaining that she was inadequately warned that sharks eat stuff like that. Apparently, the citizens of Volusia County are not going to be happy until every square inch of Mother Nature lets you know she’s trying to kill you.

Continue reading #6243 FL polls, Volusia county is dangerous, VP quiz →

Good Ol’ Danny came by, and visited for a bit… first time since he got his wicked sickies. He was kind enough to do my laundry for me a week ago, and was feeling guilty about not dropping it off… no problem here! Not like I was going to use it for a week or two more. He also brought over some yummy sushi!

I’m glad he stopped by.. we got to gab and hang out for a bit. I told him a bit about Metamorphosis Alpha (Well, the sort of revised version I played when I was 12.. we knew we were on a ship, and were long awakened “sleepers” rather than mutants.. some article in an ancient issue of Dragon, no doubt..)

After getting into the gaming mindset, we discussed his rogue (read- thief) that he’s planning on playing on occasion with the Sci-Fi club he sponsors at the school…All of the stats were in place via his GM, so we just bandied back and forth ideas for his background, mannerisms, and motivations. He wants to have some redeeming qualities that’ll make the guy fun to play. The Latin dictionary was handy for his mock-spell casting bluff…a tool I haven’t used for that purpose in years. I’m a little wistful about gaming… with the right group, it’s a great way to socialize and have fun on the cheap. (Flip side, the wrong group can foster the most social person to decide to become a hermit.) I think it’d be fun to play with Danny and a few others in a Metamorphosis Alpha sort of game, at least as a one or three-shot.

Danny takes the Tolkien quiz meme

Miami’s Local Feeds has begun updating my journal again! I wonder what stopped it for a week?

Frankie came by, looking to mooch from me, for the first time after I talked to him about it. . I told him that I had nothing for him, and that he must’ve forgotten what we had discussed.

I got an emergency call form the big kahuna last night, 8 year old went missing and code red’s system took a dump. I got in there, and took care of it. It turns out that she was found earlier and taken to a mall up the road.

Bro called me about some sort of DVD / VCR combo for sale at sears for $35. if that’s true, I’ll pick up two of them, and give one to Danny, so he can watch his currently player-less discs.

Skinny cow’s “strawberry shortcake” ice cream sandwiches are yummy, and really not a big drag on points (2) at all. I’ll try the Dulce de leche next week.. or maybe mint.

Gel ‘heals wounds more quickly’ Continue reading #6240 same as it ever was →

The 20th Anniversary Miami Book Fair International has been going on all week, but the street fair portion starts today and ends Sunday. I worked there with the Boynton Beach City Library many, many years ago. I think it was the 3-4th annual, if the timing is right. I met some really nice people there at the time, including Ron Wiggins, who was one of the only reasons for me to read the Palm Beach Post’s Accent section as a teenager. I’d really like to go this weekend, but I’m not up to that level of milling around for hours and hours yet. A pity, because Will Eisner is going to be there, and he’s always a fascinating speaker. Other folks that are attending that I’d like to hear from are Garrison Keillor, Dave Barry, and Carl Hiaasen… Highly entertaining people who can give any writer great ideas and handy tips on the field. It’s something not to miss, if you can help it.

Danny reminded me to post about Voyager’s distance now.. Continue reading #6238 Miami book fair, voyager, found ruins →

Snapped awake out of a sound sleep at 3am, my body refuses to rest anymore right now. Is it because it’s doctor day? I don’t know, but I’m bright eyed and bushy-tailed, almost as if someone sneaked a shot of b12 into my system when I wasn’t lookin’.

Well, I’ve surfed a little, and I’ll try and get a spot more snooze-time in before the trip.

Middle earth Race quiz

Snapped awake out of a sound sleep at 3am, my body refuses to rest anymore right now. Is it because it’s doctor day? I don’t know, but I’m bright eyed and bushy-tailed, almost as if someone sneaked a shot of b12 into my system when I wasn’t lookin’.

Well, I’ve surfed a little, and I’ll try and get a spot more snooze-time in before the trip.

Middle earth Race quiz

Eep.. my time-sense warps and stretches when I’m at home for extended periods. If it wasn’t light or dark outside, I’d have trouble knowing when the days rolled by…. I’ve been medium weary all this week, sort of just going to sleep and waking up when the body was ready to do so (or when the phone rang / door got knocked on.)

Tomorrow will be the first day I’ll really have been out and about since I was in the hospital. I hope that I’m good for the long haul out there. I think it’ll be ok.

The sushi and green tea ice cream satisfied my belly quite nicely. *urp*

Paper, Leather, Clay & Stone – The Written Word Materialized.

Paging Through Medieval Lives – Illumination and Calligraphy From Selected Collections

Cartoons worth my while…Fillmore, Recess, Weekenders, Legend of Tarzan, Fairly Oddparents, Lloyd in Space, Disney’s Hercules, Pepper Ann and Sabrina the Teenage Witch (I can do a fair impersonation of Salem the cat)

Amazing to me how prominent Disney is on the list! (Buzz Lightyear isn’t bad, but not an eye grabber like the others.)Surprisingly, not much Kim Possible on the tube… it used to be on every third hour or so. No new Sponge Bobs of Note, either. Nick needs to get on the ball. Same for Cartoon Network, for that matter. (I’ll give the new Star Wars cartoon a shot, but I haven’t seen enough to get a vibe off of it.)

The Church Sign Generator! Neat!

Brother came by this morning and woke me at 7am to pick up his raincoat, on his way to his court date. (He called and asked what time would be good to stop by yesterday, and I told him that *after* court would be good, but I guess he misunderstood. Hopefully the visit to the courthouse will be brief and inexpensive…we’ll see.

There is fantastic amounts of rain coming down outside, and loads of thunder, too. Newt’s chilling next to me, just withing petting reach. Pretty Nice.. I may nap it up some again this morn. Bro mentioned that the place he’s staying at has adopted a cat… apparently he’s dealing with allergies fairly well so far.

I have to schedule my ride to tomorrow’s staple-removing appointment… How wonderful that’ll be! I’m hoping that’ll also mean I can get back to paces with ACIM, too.

So… There’s a Cowboy Bebop Movie?

A case of curiosities (some sound), unusual taxidermy and assemblage inspired by 18th and 19th century curiosity cabinets. I may’ve linked here before.

Wondering where Ray’s been.. haven’t seen much hint of him online in the last week or so. Danny’s still all flu-buggy. Must be pretty serious, because he hasn’t been to school this week.

I finally caught the ‘s memories up to date. I need to get back into doing that once every few weeks, to stay on top of it.

Recently Downloaded The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown… you’ve got to love the Internet. Especially alt.binaries.e-book.* (palm is especially handy…no pun intended.)

I haven’t seen a *single* positive review of Matrix 3 yet.(And I hear the Merovigian is totally pointless.) I am looking quite forward to Return of the King. [update, I’ve heard *very few* positive sin a sea of negatives.]

Earlier, I flipped over every TV channel known to man and many known to monkeys. Not much on.

Real mod, peapod, buff bod, hot rod, obtuse, rubber goose, green moose, guava juice, giant snake, birthday cake, large fries, chocolate shake!