So, she's back, and she's back, and she's back. And they're both back, if not posting frequently enough (yeah, that's not going to come back and bite me in the ass). Even Lileks is back. What's a girl to do?

I'm not conforming, people. It's clearly something in the water.

I can't promise you content or longevity, but maybe I'll surprise us both.

This might be the weirdest thing I've seen so far, in this early, early election runup season.

Presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee said Monday the buzz about former Sen. Fred Thompson's expected entry into the race reminds him of a cartoon superhero.

"There is this almost created sense of this Mighty Mouse candidacy, 'Here I come to save the day,"' Huckabee told reporters after giving a speech at a financial services company. "In the end, voters are not necessarily looking for someone to come in and save the day."

I actually sort of like Mike Huckabee, and I appreciated his candor about his faith at the debate on Tuesday, even if I can't relate. But that comment is just wacky.

Show of hands? Anyone not looking for someone to come in and save the day, right now? Anyone?

Am I the only one that still gets a tiny feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach every time there's a shuttle launch imminent? I doubt it.

There've been so many problems, with the hail damage in February, and other fuel tank concerns. I'm always so excited for them, and for any space travel, but I'll be glad when they're safely off the ground, and talking about how awesome it was. Yeesh.

Just an hour to go (I've been in meetings, literally, all day). Have a wonderful, safe, productive, SAFE trip.

1. The seventh Harry Potter book and the sixth movie are both coming out within the next six weeks. Eee. Just keeping you on your toes.

2. I got hooked by a Family Feud marathon yesterday somehow, and there was an ad they kept showing that cracked me up every time. It's the final round, and the question is "Name an animal with three letters in its name." And the guy says "Alligator." Hee. On the board behind him is the other player's guess, and it's "Frog." Heeeeeeeee.

3. An interesting anecdote about Rudy Giuliani.

4. Paris Hilton vows to stop "acting dumb." Because it was all an act, see? She's going to stop "acting" like a racist and a slut, next.

5. A Chipotle just opened less than a mile from my house. I've eaten there three times in the past five days. I'm not proud. (Yes, we have Qdoba. Please don't make me explain why I won't eat there anymore.)

I found this article last week, and wanted to write about it, but I couldn't find the time to do it justice.

Twenty-five things that have virtually disappeared in the past 25 years. Number one was the part that caught my eye. I remember when you could smoke on a plane. There was a plastic sign on the back of about row 20, that set the limit of where you could smoke. I always seemed to get that seat when I was a kid. Like the smoke knew where to stop. I very vaguely remember ashtrays on desks in offices too, from when my father worked for IBM.

Number two isn't rare here. We have Sinclair. And last I saw, it was mandatory in New Jersey. And number three seems to be coming back right now, sadly. Andrea collects number four and Michele collects number five, as I recall.

I think we all miss twelve and fifteen, if not six.

So what do you think? Any of them make you nostalgic, or just happy they're gone? And what did they forget?

I quickly clicked to read this article because the link said "J.K. Rowling's publisher is touting a boy archaeologist as a successor to Harry Potter."

So I thought it was the next series by Rowling. Should have read more closely. Anyway, sci fi / comic geeks, does this sound familiar to you?

"Tunnels has it all: a boy archaeologist, merciless villains, a lost world and an extraordinary journey to the centre of the earth."

Cunningham [will publish] a series of fantasy tales seen through the eyes of 14-year-old Will Burrows and set in a hidden world deep below London.

Really nasty baddies in a lost world underneath London? Neverwhere? I can't decide if I'm jumping to conclusions. Or maybe I'm just negatively biased because it's an archaeologist named Wheelbarrows.

Who am I kidding? It's not like I won't read it, just like I got sucked into ASoUEvents and Artemis Fowl. But still.

Then later comes the running and the screaming.

Anyone else picture this ending not so adorably in six months?

Oy.

Matt has an interesting meme, or at least it'll be interesting if my results are as eerie as his.

1. open your library (iTunes, winamp, media player, iPod)
2. put it on shuffle
3. press play
4. for every question, type the song that’s playing
5. new question– press the next button
6. don’t lie and try to pretend you’re cool

Opening Credits
The Tiki Room

Waking Up
Police - Synchronicity II

First Day at School
Alannah Miles - Black Velvet

Falling in Love
RHCP - Apache Rose Peacock

Breaking Up
Audioslave - Doesn't Remind Me

Prom
Concrete Blonde - Mexican Moon

Life's Okay
Nelly Furtado - Hey Man

Mental Breakdown
White Town - Your Woman

Driving
Guns and Roses - Sweet Child of Mine

Flashback
Eifell 65 - I'm Blue Dabadee

Getting back together
Police - Truth Hits Everybody

Wedding
Anita Ward - Ring My Bell

Birth of a child
Men Without Hats - Safety Dance

Final Battle
Smiths - Meat Is Murder

Death Scene
Eminem - Business

Funeral Song
Olivia Newton John - Xanadu

End Credits
Highwaymen - Ghost Riders in the Sky

Note: While the kitsch factor on my ipod is (obviously) very high, the ratio isn't normally quite this bad. Also, I do own music published within the past fifteen years.

Also seen at Michele's and Megan McAssymetrigalt's, who also both had great luck with the quirk.

Feel free to steal it. That's what memes are for!

This is awesome.

I know 18 digits of pi and can recite the quadratic equation, but I still need to make an L with my hand to find out where left is.

True stories, told in one sentence.

"What the f*ck is an Aluminum Falcon?"*

Saturday was the Race for the Cure, here. And yet again, it was the harbinger of gross incompetence and oversight. Don't get me wrong, Komen's my pet cause, and I have a great time every year, but I doubt there has ever existed a clusterfuck of this magnitude.

There were roughly 70,000 participants (10,000 more than last year) and they finally decided to split it into runners and walkers, with walkers starting 15 minutes later. But they've apparently been doing it in one big pack for too many years, because it didn't happen that way.

Once again, the walkers completely ignored the 50+ announcements to go to the rear, and took up the full six lanes of asphalt, refusing to give ground. Once again, the non-elite runners had to take to the sidewalks, single file, dodging trees, lightpoles, parking meters, and door steps, for almost the first full mile. At least they took down the barricades this year, so we didn't actually have to jump over them to get to the sidewalk, like last year.

The timing of the one mile 'fun walk' was also fabulous, dumping the slowest walkers into the last 1/4 mile of the 5k, so there was barely room to walk, much less run. I think we doubled our full distance, swerving in and out between walkers, people pushing strollers, and those who stopped dead to take pictures.

Feh. It's not a real race anyway. It's not even timed (like it is in some cities), so I'm not too bent. Last year I was livid, but now I'm over it.

Observations: (1) The middle-aged lady in the pink (breast cancer survivor) t-shirt just in front of me, who was chain smoking before the race started. She was a walker, obviously, and I know smoking isn't the biggest cause of breast cancer, but still. (2) The big burly bikers who crowded into every intersection, with Komen shirts under their leathers, to cheer us on wildly. I have no idea what that's about, but they do it every year, and I love it. (3) The amazing steel drum band moved further up the race this year than they were last year, but not far enough. They need to be on the big hill, because their music is such a great push in that insanely sweltering heat. (4) The biggest bumblebee I've ever seen decided I was his best friend. Seriously, his wings were so huge I could feel the breeze from six inches away, and he didn't stay that far away. I couldn't squash him, because I have this inexplicable love for bumblebees, but I was afraid he was going to fly up my shorts, so I finally had to thunk him on the head to make him go away.

This story about the missing pregnant woman in Ohio is bringing up the whole issue of Missing White Girl Syndrome again. Women and girls like Natalee Holloway and Elizabeth Smart remain in the national headlines for weeks or months, where Stepha Henry falls thru the cracks. Just as pretty, with just as much promise. What's the difference?

I think race is part of it, but plenty of pretty white girls disappear every day, and never make the news outside of their hometowns. On the other hand, Precious Doe stayed in the national news for four full years. I think the difference is the families*.

Some families, like the Holloways and the Ramseys**, just will not shut up. They know that the media is the best way to find their missing girls, and they milk it. They give press conferences and approach the media themselves. They even make their own news, if necessary, to keep the story alive -- being loud and obnoxious works fine, when any publicity is good publicity.

Certainly, the papers and news shows decide what story gets top billing, and they're predisposed to show pretty little blonde girls because that's a ratings grabber. But if I had to say one thing to Stepha Henry's family, it would be -- Suck up your pride and get out there. Start making more noise. I'm an extremely private, low-key person, but if I lost someone, that's the first thing I'd do. She's a pretty girl with a good education, and you've got their attention, now. Let her make news.

* In Precious Doe's case, there was a group of women in Kansas City who took up her cause and fought for her, harder than most families fight for their own children.

** I have no idea if JonBenet Ramsey's murder was committed by an outsider or not, but I don't think her father was involved. And you must admit, they made it huge news, and kept it that way.

Fred Thompson seeks Thatcher's blessing

Dude. He is not playing around. (I'm not sure that trying to be Reagan is the best course of action, since one can only fail. But still. Maggie Thatcher. Before he's even in. Damn.)

I definitely don't qualify for this, but I know quite a few people who might. ;o)

Etsy :: Flickr Whore buttons

(I think I count as an Etsy Junkie, tho. I could decorate my whole house with prints and photos from their vendors.)

I'm already starting to get spam, so I'm turning on commenting authentication. Sorry, I know some people hate it, but it cuts down on spam, and I can approve commenters, so you won't have to wait for me to find and approve every individual comment.

I've been signed up with MT's comment system for years, and they've never spammed my email. If that helps.

p.s. - If you were a commenter here before, you're still in their system. And it's the same one Rachel Lucas and Dooce use, so it will work here too.

Ramones Converse high tops. I know. But I already have more chucks than I can wear. (Part of sales go to charity)

Best thing yesterday:

Today already has a strong lead, obviously.

Impossible and freakishly cool shadow art.

Just trust me.

Office fans:

Jenna Fischer is posting on her blog again, and she's doing much better. (She broke her back (!) in a fall, just before the season finale.)

She's just awesome, disorientingly hilarious, and I'm so happy for her character Pam. And can I just add, finally someone who feels the same way I do about Breakfast at Tiffany's. Jeez.

Lolpresident has apparently decided not to use my submission (it is a little obscure), so I'll post it here.

Seki sort of pseudo-tagged me for this meme, but some of the questions are really lame. So I'll be substituting my own questions for some of them. Feel free to steal either version.

WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?

Not that I know of. And who the hell gives their kid a Russian name during the Cold War?

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?

Don't recall. I've been really stressed and worried about someone lately, and I wish I could cry to get it out, but I can't seem to remember how.

DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? Whose handwriting should be a font?

My grandfather had the most badass writing. I just found his WWI draft card online a few weeks ago. (and, of course the site's being pissy now, so I can't show it to you.)

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? Breakfast for dinner or dinner for breakfast?

Dinner for breakfast (pizza or pasta, preferably). I loved Qix cereal for dinner as a kid, tho.

DO YOU HAVE KIDS?

Just the furbearing kind.

IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?

Good lord no. What a bitch.

DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT?

Occasionally.

DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? What's the weirdest sickness/surgery you've had?

Bell's Palsy, in high school. It paralyzes half of your face, and doesn't always go away.

WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?

Sure. Bungee jump, skydive, parasail, hangglide. Whatever.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Should Trader Joe's be our next president?

The required answer is yes.

DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?

Only my running shoes, which I have to lace pretty tightly. Cons and work shoes, no.

DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG?

Don't make me beat you to find out.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM?

That 'slow-churned' American Idol flavor that tastes like birthday cake. Which is weird, because I don't like cake.

WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? What irritates you most about people?

Yammering constantly about nothing.

[Note: Yammering about something is fine. Good, in fact, because it means I don't have to think of anything to say. Bonus points if it's funny. But the ninth half-hour monologue this week on your offspring's college tuition options? No.]

RED OR PINK?

Red. Dur.

WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF?

I either don't talk at all (mostly), or I ramble like a loony (rarely). If I utter more than ten sentences to anyone, I apologize profusely and refuse to speak for the rest of the day. So everyone thinks I'm either a snotty stuck-up bitch or a crazy motormouth. (But I'm the queen of the one-liner.)

WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST?

My dad.

WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES clothes ARE YOU WEARING?

Black pants, red shirt, black shoes. Thrilling. I don't know why I left this one in. They tricked me by splitting it into two, and made me think it was relevant.

WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE?

Grapes.

WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?

My gossipy co-workers whisper (literally) about why our admin's out.

IF YOU WHERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?

Cerulean.

FAVORITE SMELLS?

Lilacs, honeysuckle, sagebrush, cooking onions, peaches. Coolaulin. Wood smoke. Rosemary and basil. Gardenias. The living room, the day after you put up the christmas tree.

WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?

One of my users. I don't talk on the phone socially. And you can't make me.

FAVORITE SPORTS?

Playing, golf. Watching on tv, football. Watching in person, cricket.

HAIR COLOR?

Red. Again, dur.

EYE COLOR?

Green.

DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?

Nope. Got lasiked in 2000.

FAVORITE FOOD?

Thai, Sushi, Indian.

SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? What food would you refuse to eat, even if you were starving to death on a deserted island?

Marzipan. Maple syrup. And maybe figs.

LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? Best memory outdoors after midnight?

Sneaking out to run on the beach with Johnny and Lisa when we were kids.

WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? What's the weirdest thing you've ever worn in public? Supply a photo if possible.

I was the girl in the bear suit for Showbiz Pizza. I also went as Catwoman for halloween one year, and ended up having to go grocery shopping in costume before the party. Awk. Ward.

SUMMER OR WINTER? John Wayne or Jimmy Stewart?

I don't know why I asked that. I can't decide.

HUGS OR KISSES?

I'm a hugger. I come from a huge family of kissers, and it still weirds me out when people try to kiss me.

FAVORITE DESSERT? Disneyworld or Disneyland?

Disneyland

MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Blogger you'd like to meet?

Suzie and Erica

LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Blogger you'd like to punch in the neck? More embarrassing: Laughing too loud or not laughing at all?

Too loud

WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW?

Peony, by Pearl Buck

WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?

I don't use a mousepad.

WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON T.V. LAST NIGHT? Least sucky thing about summer televison?

Getting the hell away from the tv. Blech.

FAVORITE SOUND?

Old Volkswagon engines. Ella Fitzgerald. The ice cracking in the spring in Minnesota. My dog snoring.

ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? Describe the first time you got drunk. (courtesy of Rachel Lucas)

Boone's Farm and tequila. It was bad.

WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME?

I'd have to find a globe to be sure. Egypt? Siberia?

DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT?

I fix things.

WHERE WERE YOU BORN?

New York

WHOSE ANSWERS ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING BACK? What's your favorite curse word? (blatantly stolen from The Actor's Studio)

Hmm. I've been using 'fuckstick' a lot lately, but I might have to go with 'clusterfuck' (having used it last weekend). My old friend Dennis used it to describe a place we worked, and it just says so much.

Fug fans: This might be the greatest scroll-down fug, ever.

Cute, cute, cute, CUTE, cu... huh.

Woohoo! They're down safely and home, at Edwards AFB. And now I remember the answer to #2 below. It was 14 days ago.

I had to laugh at this picture, by the way, because that's exactly what my hair would be doing.

Just when I was hoping that someone would pay me a million dollars for driving drunk. Dangit.

It could be like that episode of WKRP, but with a Bentley. Think it over, NBC.

So I've been hearing about the Fairness Doctrine all day. Apparently some people are trying to get it reinstated, even though it was abolished in the 80s for violating the first amendment.

Do you know what this is about? The left has found that they suck at talk radio (I have no horse in that race. I can't even stand a DJ talking between songs, much less ALL talk). Instead of accepting the fact, and their multi-million dollar losses, and finding a new niche (and they're obviously hugely successful in many - not the least of which is blogging), they want the government to step in and help them get a foothold.

The incompetent are just as deserving as the talented, right?

These are the same people who are constantly telling the federal government to get out of their lives. The government shouldn't decide whom you can marry, and god forbid they try to touch your uterus (which I entirely agree with, but on a different principle), but as soon as things get tough, big government had better be there yesterday to fix it.

Can someone please shut up Ayn Rand's ghost? Her screaming is starting to give me a headache.

If you aren't watching Planet Earth, you really should be.

I know, I know. Oprah said it was good. Pretend that didn't happen. It really is good. It's absurdly, almost painfully, beautiful. The painful part coming mostly from watching such amazing things, that you know you'll literally never see with your own eyes. Things like dolphins hydroplaning on top of the water to catch fish in water too shallow for them to swim. Slow-motion night-vision footage of bats drinking from cactus flowers. They had a team of videographers who spent a year in Antarctica, so they could film the entire life cycle of Emperor Penguins.

It shows no mercy or prejudice. Sharks eat seals, seals (weirdly) eat penguins, and penguins eat fish. And there's reliably at least one totally humbling oh my god moment per episode.

It's on Animal Planet on Wednesday nights. If you don't watch tv, record an episode and watch it when you have time. You won't be disappointed.

Huh. I just sent my Senator an email. I've never done that before.

It was surprisingly easy. There's an email form right there on his website. Don't know if it will do any good, obviously, so maybe I'll write to the other one now...

Update: I got an email back from my congressman. It's probably a form letter, but still. Neat!

Eeeee!

Egyptologists think they have Hatshepsut's mummy

Not a new find, actually, but a new identification of a mummy that was found in 1903, and then again in 1989 (I'm not sure how that part works).

The archaeologist, who asked not to be named, said the candidate for identification as the mummy of Hatshepsut was one of two females found in 1903 in a small tomb believed to be that of Hatshepsut's wet-nurse, Sitre In.

"It's based on teeth and body parts ... It's an interesting piece of scientific deduction which might point to the truth," the archaeologist said.

I've been obsessed fascinated by Hatshepsut since I learned about her in an Egyptian Art and Architecture class in college. She was technically the king, not the queen. It wasn't like European royalty, where the queen could either be the ruler or the consort. The pharaoh was an incarnation of the god Horus, and she was the pharaoh, herself.

Her successor removed almost every picture and sign of her name from the entire country. Seeing and walking thru her temple in Egypt was the most exciting part of my time there. Yes, I'm a geek. You knew that. This is so cool.

Update: Proven with DNA!

1 International Space Station + 1 space shuttle + 1 25-inch telescope + 1 digital camera + kids on the ground = So Cool

Ok, I've been pointedly ignoring the whole Chris Benoit thing.

I was a bartender for a long time, and for a largish chuck of that time, I was a bartender in Atlanta. I worked with a lot of bouncers, and I adored almost all of them (really, only one big exception). Being an underdressed, pushy broad who doesn't readily back down from a fight, I probably owe a few of them my skin.

The one I hated left, and joined whatever the hell the big Ted Turner-based pro wrestling organization is/was in Atlanta. WCW? He was already a roided-out dickhead, so it was no shock. But he took a bunch of my other nice, protective boys with him, and all (except one) of them also became roided-out dickheads. That pissed me off. So I have no pity or patience with the sport or the men, or the women who tolerate their... roided-out dickheadness (which doesn't include their poor little boy, obviously).

Ok, that was a tangent. Anyway.

I'm un-shunning the Benoit story because this is just freakin' creepy.

An anonymous user operating a computer traced to Stamford, Conn. — home to World Wrestling Entertainment — posted an entry to pro wrestler Chris Benoit's biography on Wikipedia.org announcing the death of his wife Nancy at least 13 hours before police in suburban Atlanta said they found her body along with her husband's and that of their 7-year-old son

The posting reads: “Chris Benoit was replaced by Johnny Nitro for the ECW Championship match at Vengeance, as Benoit was not there due to personal issues, stemming from the death of his wife Nancy.”
[emphasis mine]

Thirteen hours before they found the bodies. And the user's computer was local to a big wrestling organization. My first thought: did he write it himself? He was in Atlanta, obviously, but if he used their network, he could have their IP. Or did he tell someone?

Either way? Seriously creepy, and way, way morbid.

Re-shun.

Isaiah Washington is calling Shonda Rhimes (of all people) on the race card.

Keep digging that hole, man. I admit to having liked Burke, before the storyline with Yang played out to exhaustion, but at this point, I'd be pleased as punch to see you never work again.

My mistake was thinking black people get second chances. I was wrong on all fronts," he said.

His unwillingness to act like a submissive black at work was part of the problem, Washington said.

"Well, it didn't help me on the set that I was a black man who wasn't a mush-mouth Negro walking around with his head in his hands all the time. I didn't speak like I'd just left the plantation and... go around saying `Yessah, massa sir' and `No sir, massa' to everyone."

Oy. Apart from what he's saying about Rhimes here, which is absurd to the point of obscenity -- that says a whole lot for (the insanely incredible) Chandra Wilson, too, right? Anyone else imagining Dr Bailey beating the holy living hell out of him right now?