When I woke up, the words to Bobby Pickett’s “King Kong” (not the one by Abba), oddly melded with Alley Oop (by Gary Paxton).

Can’t seem to locate the Proper Kong Lyrics online.. Perhaps I’ll break out the record and transcribe them to the Internet for posterity.

Of course, there’s always my favorite Bert Convy Tune...

We were out of school
With nothing to do
So we jumped in my car
And we went to the zoo
Having lots of fun
Just a-walkin’ around
Looking in the cages
When I heard a funny sound
Somebody yelled
And one began to shout
I turned around
And my eyes bugged out

He’s out of his cage
He’s on a rampage
Swingin’ his arms all over the place
Fiery red eyes and a big ugly face
Chip-chip-chip-chip-chip-chip-chip
Go-ril-la

He climbed on a bus
And he rode downtown
Stopping all the traffic
For miles around
He heard some music coming
From a record shop
Jumped off the bus
And he started to bop

He’s out of his cage
He’s on a rampage
Swingin’ his arms all over the place
Dancin’ rock ‘n’ roll with a grin on his face
Chip-chip-chip-chip-chip-chip-chip
Go-ril-la

He heard some music coming
From a record shop
He jumped off the bus
And he started to bop
He stopped his dancing
And looked up in the sky
A flying purple people eater
Was flying by
He reached up and grabbed him
And he ate him whole

A gorilla!

(Echoed out like the end of Tequila)

Only a week or two behind on this one…

Prof. Dave Farber sent an e-mail to his Interesting People list about how under Code Orange it is, apparently, illegal to take photos of transit facilities. http://www.interesting-people.org/ At a faculty meeting at Bryn Mawr College, the attendees were informed that a student from Haverford College was arrested for taking photographs of trains in Philadelphia. The student was detained and questioned for a few hours and eventually released. http://lists.elistx.com/archives/interesting-people/200302/msg00118.html

This struck a chord with me, as I like taking little travel pictures, many of which might take place in a bus, or at the station. I’m especially prone to take shots with my palmtop “spycam”, though the pictures from that are weak, at best.

Fortunately, Farber also posted an item from a Portland, Ore. attorney who has posted a briefing paper about what your rights are as a photographer. http://www.krages.com/ThePhotographersRight.pdf

Via tarpo The Most Significant SF & Fantasy Books of the Last 50 Years, 1953-2002 (according to Sci Fi Book Club)

I’ve put a 0 to 4 Star rating beside the ones I’ve read, according to the amount of enjoyment I got from them. One star is worth an eyeball, anything with 2 stars is good, 3 very good, and four is “What? You haven’t read it? Hop to it!” I imagine many folks will disagree with me on a few of my feelings, so I’m going to stress that it’s simply my opinion.

Your Mileage may vary… as might mine in current time. (I’ve not read some of them in over two decades.)
the books…

RIBLETS ARE GREAT!

The BBQ sauce is really good, and the entree texture is perfect.

I am going to buy these suckers frequently. A little heavy on the sodium…(30% per) but the rest is very healthy, too. Price was right… it was $2.50 for a package, and it gives two decent sized slabs of sauced-up yumminess.

Next go-round, instead of on the plate, it’s going on a kaiser.

Man, that was good.

Newt is totally uninterested in the plate with the food on it. He is however enjoying my hair-tie. To each their own, I suppose.

I ate it with a fork, for those keeping score.

Know what I like about trees? They’re bigger than me, and they listen without interrupting.

Home again, Home again… and all that jiggety jazz.

Too tired to make leeks, though I took a leak as soon as I got in. It’s going to be a Nuke yourself somethin’ from the freezer night. Veggie riblets look pretty good to me. They seem remarkably similar to the ol’ McRib that came out a while back. Gotta admire any info about them that mentions that they’re Bone free (As free as the wind blows)

Kev is as sick as the proverbial dog, and will be staying home tomorrow. Chupa caused him no end of pointless stress over 40 miserable faulty records, stopping him from making any sort of escape today. Tomorrow, while the boss is away, the Scotto will play, actively seeking work, and deciding on what the final way to go is. Nordis-man just is invisible to me… No answers to my voice or e-mails. I wonder if he’s out sick or something, as Tuan even says that he can’t get through to him. (That’s reassuring, as I would not want to think that he’s just dodging me.) Either way, I’m not going to be where I am now in 2 weeks… that much is assured. Taught Sappho how to knife-fight, should she need to. The Flick/slash/stab maneuver. handy handy.

Know what makes my day? Getting Maryland state quarters in my change. Makes me smile, it does.

Got bored, wondered who invented the fork. Found this place: The History of Eating Utensils. Kitchen Forks go back to the time of the Greeks, and had two times to help the cutting and serving of meat. Spoons have been used as eating utensils since Paleolithic times. It is most likely that prehistoric peoples used shells or chips of wood as spoons. Knives are totally old school. Prehistoric. Chopsticks were developed about 5,000 years ago in China. It is likely that people cooked their food in large pots which held heat for a long time, and hasty eaters then broke twigs off trees to retrieve the food. Travel Cutlery History of the Spork is quite dubious at best…a descendant of the runcible spoon.

DNA pioneer James Watson says that stupidity is a genetic disease that can — and should — be cured.

The New Scientist has the story.

Personally, I really doubt if that’s the case, but it’s an interesting idea. I’d wonder what traits (if any) would be suppressed at the cost of intelligence.

I find myself craving a potpie for lunch. I can’t recall the last time that I had one… Boston Market had some really tasty veggie potpies that smelled far more palatable thank their chicken. By the way… Regarding their creamed spinach… Just say no. The Parmesan creamed spinach is one of the worst vegetable side dishes ever seen. It’s got two-thirds of a day’s fat. You’d have to eat an order of meatloaf & gravy plus an order of ham and cinnamon apples to do as much damage to your heart. I don’t foresee myself ever having even a veggie potpie again, knowing how evil they are, nutritionally. If I ever go to the big BM again…. (I can’t get enough of food places that sound like taking a poop or a disease) I’ll get the dill new potatoes and herbed sweet corn, with a side of BBq Beans, just for the confirmation of BM. With some cornbread. Yum, good ol’ cornbread.

P U L P – I T: modernized pulp fiction art – a most excellent website! Original and brilliant. I’m adding this to my daily round.

Hmm.. I lost a large entry last night, due to a spontaneous reboot. Well, if the fates don’t want me to post my deep insights about McMillan and Wife vs. Columbo, then so be it.

Ah well… it’s about that time of day again, Dear Journal. I’ll see you on the flipside. Don’t take any candy from strangers.

Is it morning again? I’m still snoozy even after the hot shower ‘o doom.

Crispin Glover as Willard.… Well, there’s a perfect creepy fit, as far as I’m concerned.

Hey, Neat! Someone else has subscribed to my site using bloglet! 🙂 I’m now ranked #889 on the system there. 🙂

Via Astronomy Picture of the Day – The Term that Cracks me up is “Mysterious Repulsive Energy“. That’s an easy one… He works in the laser department. I haven’t given him a nickname yet, but I shall, now. MRE. (or Just Murray for Ease of Use)

I was up quite late reading and relaxing… took me a while to unwind, and just enjoy the day.

Implemented a search engine to my public entries- on my bio page. reworked it a little… it was getting too cluttered, plus, nobody clicked on a few of the links I had posted there.

Yikes… where does the time go? 11… must fly. Until later, dear journal.

A legitimate new virus out and about – Lovegate I recommend that you take a peek at the Snopes or Symantec site for more information before opening any attachments.

From the site –

There is a new Computer Virus out called “Lovgate.c”. It affects users running Outlook, Outlook Express, and the following operating systems: Windows ’95, ’98, ‘NT Windows ‘2000, Windows ME, and Windows XP. It is a mass mailing virus which comes packaged in your e-mail with the subject “I’ll try to reply as soon as possible. Take a look to the attachment and send me your opinion!”. DO NOT OPEN THIS MESSAGE! PLEASE DELETE IT!.

In addition to it’s mass-mailing functionality, Lovgate spreads through Windows shares and can steal users’ passwords. This virus copies itself to your Hard Drive (C:) and Shares in folders and sub-folders – if they are password protected the virus will try a combination of usernames and passwords to gain access.

CNN reports that Pioneer 10, the first space craft to venture out of our solar system and the one that sent back all of the wonderful photos of Jupiter, has sent its last signal. It is more than 7.6 billion miles from Earth and its 21-month mission has continued for almost 31 years.

I guess the next time we’ll see it is in Star Trek V, being blown up by Captain Klaa for target practice.

That’s the shape I think of when I envision a satellite, not the little ball sputnik

Balloon v1.0. Jim Meehan built and launched a high altitude balloon running Linux with wireless (packet radio) connectivity, GPS, and a digital camera. The Tech info is great, and the aerial photos are pretty keeno, too.

lotr man quiz

Newt seems to be feeling much better. Hooray!

Noticing “Mass Action” functions for comments, now. Very interesting.

I’m digging the LJ toolbar (no scrolling friends ticker option) see more info at , here.

Newt at the vet a year ago

The only book which doesn’t take place in Narnia at all, per se, you’re the story of a voyage to find the end of the world and hopefully the Seven Lost Lords (remember Rhoop!). You contain some of the most unique people and places and beautiful descriptions of the whole series.

Find out which Chronicles of Narnia book you are.

Added 4 elements to the http://q20.net database. A superhero, a Minotaur, birkenstock sandals, noise pollution

What’ll be on Scotto’s TV tonight in the background (at least until 1:30 am, when I’ll actually pay attention rather than letting stuff filter in.) I plan on doing Kitty-snuggles and a little writing this evening.

Nice that I can program the VCR to just change channels for me, and not record.

A little worried about Newt. He seems a bit lethargic, and a little cranky. I called and left a message with the vet, and hope it’s only a very short term side effect of the shots he got this morning.

update, the vet called back, and said that being achy and a bit lethargic is normal sometimes, and that it might last until tomorrow. I’m to call him on Monday and let him know how things are going. Newt has seemed to be a bit better, and is willing to curl up next to me rather than hide out. Poor sick little guy… it’ll be worth it for him to be safe and healthy in the long run, though… I hope he works it out quickly. He Covered all of his waste up this last little sandbox visit, unlike the time previous. That makes me think he’s toughening up some.

I can be an overprotective parent… but it’s out of love, y’know. I do agree with the “better to be safe than sorry” credo most of the time.

AI 20 Questions
This site is kind of fun. It plays 20 questions to guess what you are thinking of. I was thinking of a statue and it got it after 29 questions. The site was a little slow, but fun. It got Catnip after 24 questions, a chicken after 25 and a postage stamp after 17.

how to play

Dorky-Newt picture explanation –

Cats have a scenting system that is independent of their noses. This system is at work when a cat curls back its upper lip and exposes its teeth, a look sometimes described as a sneer. A cat is displaying what has been described as a hybrid between taste and smell called flehmen, a German word for which there is no translation. It is a result of a cat’s second scenting system, the vomeronasal organ or Jacobson’s organ (named for its discoverer). This scent organ is independent of a cat’s nose. A cat inhales with its mouth partially open while holding its breath. The rush of air and the tongue combine to bring the scent to Jacobson’s organ and then to the brain.

Back from the vet, and Newt is the picture of Feline Health. Good Weight (Maintaining at 12.5 lbs), good teeth, ears and eyes.

Summary:

• Annual Physical – $25
• Fecal lab & Disposal $13

Vaccinations-

• Rabies – $22
• Feline distemper / Upper Respiratory -$21.50
• Bordatella Feline booster $15
• Annual Feline Leukemia Virus $20

Total – $116.50

New Doctor, Stephanie Johnston… she seemed nice and aware of what she’s about. Newt was a bit of a fussbudget, once we were there… I wonder if he remembered the spaniel he yelled at last time. He did snuggle down once we left the office. The girls there all love him to pieces, too, which I’m sure helped him out.

Newt was too snugglesome to be believed this morn. It was all I could do to tear myself away and head in to work.

Stressful day today… to much to do, not enough time to do it in. Still no answer from Brian. Turned down going out to see that Civil War movie once I found out the flippin’ thing is 4 hours long. (That can wait for DVD, and the small screen.)

Sappho had to come in, while on vacation to take care of bid’ness. I honestly don’t know why her part couldn’t wait until Monday, but it’s not for me to wonder.

Newt’s heading to the doc for his annual stuff tomorrow. I’ve got to find a clear zip-lock and raid his litter box for poo, else he’s going to have prison-trauma there tomorrow via the diamond-shaped bubble wand o’doom.

[update: the remote was on my keyboard drawer]