How about a couple more Name Generators?

Super Hero Name Generator - this is completely random and requires no information from you. The first name that came up was The Sensual Infrared Soldier! Not bad, but not quite me, not the Super Hero name I wanted for myself. I continued to click until I found it - - The Elusive Drunken Lady! Fighting crime in bars everywhere, leaving no beer untouched. I'll need some dark sunglasses, a utility belt for my cigarettes, and a cape, of course.

If you prefer a more noble moniker, try the

Jedi Name Generator - you'll need to enter a little information about yourself in this one. My Jedi name? DARRE NODAN of the planet Claritin. LOL. A Jedi from a planet of allergy sufferers. Now, where did I put my hypo-allergenic light saber?

[links courtesy usr/bin/girl]

posted at 11:08 PM | link |

I'm not dead yet!

posted at 5:04 PM | link |

New Dehli's monkey-man is only the tip of the iceberg.

In Patna, residents recently witnessed a disturbing, albeit virtuous, new trend. In November, a group of 14 monkeys began marching routinely, single file, around an office building. It turned out to be an anti-smoking crusade. As soon as the marchers spotted someone lighting up, they would charge, dashing over to the smoker, extinguishing his cigarette and slapping him several times in the face. In some cases, they would also dig through the smoker's pockets and remove the entire pack.

Geez, and I thought smokers were persecuted here in the states!

posted at 4:40 PM | link |

An Irishman who had a little too much to drink is driving home from the city one night and, of course, his car is weaving violently all over the road. A cop pulls him over. "So," says the cop to the driver, "where have you been?"

"Why, I've been to the pub of course" slurs the drunk.

"Well," says the cop, "it looks like you've had quite a few to drink this evening".

"I did all right," the drunk says with a smile.

"Did you know," says the cop, standing straight and folding his arms across his chest, "that a few intersections back, your wife fell out of your car?"

"Oh, thank heavens," sighs the drunk. "For a minute there, I thought I'd gone deaf."

posted at 4:21 PM | link |

Some of you may have noticed that the comment link at then end of each blog entry has not been working the past couple of days. I just found out that the problem is due to some technical difficulty at BlogVoices - well, with their T1 line. So for now the comment link will be unavailable. I'll let you know when it's back.

posted at 9:05 AM | link |

Chickens still on the loose...

"Since the three light-brown chickens disappeared, the fair has received more than a dozen calls with tips and chicken sightings, Morganti says. Among them was a person reporting that her neighbor had a suspicious number of chickens in his back yard and a high school where several chickens were released in the hall as a prank.

"I don't know why chickens are all of sudden running around the area," Morganti says. "Evidently there are chickens all over and I just never heard about it."

Boger has urged the community to search for chickens reading the newspaper -- "They're pretty smart," he says -- or playing games.

Asked if the intelligent fowl could have opened the cages themselves and made a run for it, Boger is doubtful:

"They're not Houdini," Boger says, "they're just Tic, Tac, Toe." " [CNN]

posted at 8:59 AM | link |

Spy cruise, you say? Where do I sign up?!

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"Downing a protein bar and keeping your face cool may be all it takes to prevent motion sickness." Oh, if only I'd known. My father wouldn't have had to stop the truck on the side of Mt. Washington so I could get some air, backing traffic up for what seemed liked miles. I wouldn't have missed seeing the whales on a high school field trip because I was at the back of the boat tossing my lunch overboard. Now I just have to figure out how to keep a cold compress on my face while riding a roller coaster. I suppose the G-forces would take care of that.

posted at 9:07 PM | link |

Well, Whadya Know

What's the purpose of that snap-box contraption they clack in front of a movie camera just before filming a take?

The purpose of this mysterious ritual is to synchronize the soundtrack with the picture. In the editing room during post-production, the editor can align the soundtrack for the entire scene by synchronizing the clack sound with the frame in which the box - it's called a clapboard - is snapped closed.

[source: The Straight Dope by Cecil Adams]

Why do we say that someone who is kept in isolation is in "quarantine?"

The word quarantine originated in the Middle Ages with the most famous epidemic in Western history, the black plague. Forty days appeared to be the incubation period for this dread disease and in Italy, they simply called this period, in which you were kept away from everyone, the "quarantina," Italian for the number forty.

[source: A Browser's Dictionary by John Ciardi]

Why do we call a computer problem a glitch?

The word glitch is relatively new, a product of the space age and the era of advanced electronics. It comes from the German "glitschen," and via the Yiddish, "glitshen." Both mean, "to slip."

[source: The Secret Lives of Words by Paul West]

posted at 8:48 PM | link |

What's your hockey name?

My Russian name: Commie Dardisov - Not bad, if a bit unoriginal.

My Canadian name: Gordie McDardisdyk - Sounds like a pornographic McDonald's breakfast sandwich - no thank you!

My French-Canadian name: Poutine Le Dardiseau - Ooo! I like!

[link courtesy elise]

posted at 2:15 PM | link |

At last, a horoscope I can live with:

Cancer: (June 22--July 22) You'll no longer wonder if you have what it takes after finding out that it takes a weak will, a pot belly, and a full complement of cable channels.

[source: the onion]

posted at 1:54 PM | link |

Attention baseball movie fans: The latest Filmwise Invisibles Quiz is up - #24 - The Boys (and Girls) of Summer. I'm holding steady at 5 out of 8.

posted at 1:45 PM | link |

In Chicken News...

B E N S A L E M, Pa. Did somebody X-out the tick-tack-toe-playing chickens at the Pennsylvania Fair?

Three of the six famed hens went missing last weekend.

Their owners and trainers, Kelly and Steve Boger, say they discovered the chickens' cages empty last Saturday. No other animals were missing.

The birds use a special cage to compete against fairgoers, who pay 25 cents a game to match wits at tick-tack-toe. If the chickens win, they get more feed.

If the thieves weren't interested in the birds' brainpower, they might have been eyeing them as snacks.

"People stand in line to play with these chickens," fair spokeswoman Carole Morganti told the Philadelphia Inquirer. "They are very fat."

[source: abcnews.com]

posted at 1:28 PM | link |

When I had heard that Clinton White House staffers had removed the "w"s from the office computers on their way out the door, I thought it was a pretty cute prank. But then things got weird. There was word of real vandalism, and people stealing things as they left. Yes, I can be naive, but I found much of what the press was saying hard to believe. Were the Clintons really the white trash that their opposition accused them of being? Apparently not. Funny how the original story, defamatory and based on rumor and speculation, was plastered over every front page, while the story about its inaccuracy has somehow manage to stay buried.

posted at 1:10 PM | link |

A Chicago woman takes a bite outta crime.

posted at 7:19 PM | link |

Today's cute animal picture... I can't say for sure how practical this is, but they do look smashing in their woolies!

posted at 7:15 PM | link |

History repeating itself? "Afghanistan's Taliban rulers, already isolated by their harsh brand of Islam and poor treatment of women, announced plans to make Hindus wear an identity label on their clothing to distinguish them from Muslims."

posted at 7:04 PM | link |

Jesus, what will they think of next? About a week ago, Ev posted a message at blogger about a member of the blog community, "Kaycee", who had succumbed that day to leukemia. Her blog chronicled her fight with this disease. I had never heard about her before, but followed Ev's link and read some of her journal entries, including one from "Debbie", her friend, on the day she died. It was all very sad.

Well, come to find out, the entire thing was a hoax. The guy who provided server space for Kaycee's blog, BWG, was also duped and is feeling especially betrayed [be sure to read this page in chronological order - from the bottom, up]. If you want to read or participate in some heated discussion on the whole thing, head over to metafilter. This is quite the brouhaha.

posted at 4:53 PM | link |

Yes folks, yet another big season finale - Buffy the Vampire Slayer will air its season 5 finale tonight at 8:00 on the WB. Not only is it the season finale, but it is also the last new episode to air on the WB, before it moves to UPN. I do not know a single person (besides my sister) who watches this show - I sometimes feel as though it is only me and the television critics tuned in on Tuesday nights. If you get a chance to catch the show this summer, please do - and give it more than one episode - it's worth the effort!

For those of you who will be watching tonight - enjoy!

posted at 2:06 PM | link |

If you haven't seen The Sopranos' finale, don't read any further!

I finally watched the season finale of HBO's The Sopranos last night. What a foreboding episode that was. Next season is most likely the last for them, and if this episode is any indication, we've got quite a bit to look forward to. Instead of trying to wrap up it all up myself, I'll direct you to Joyce Millman's column at Salon.com, where she says it all much more succinctly than I could. Last week brought us yet another Sopranos article at Salon, this one by Bill Wyman and entitled "Tony Sopranos' Female Trouble." I agree with some of what he says and take issue with other parts, but it's an interesting POV.

posted at 1:43 PM | link |

Hello, everyone. I had a fandamntastic weekend. Got to see friends I haven't seen in a while, eat a lot of good food (if I do say so myself ;), and the season finale of The X-Files was a whopper. I will be reviewing parts 1 and 2 together and I will post them as soon as they are done. In the meantime, you can read the Xcursion boys' review of part 1, Essence.

It's good to be back. Now I just have to get back into the swing of this thing.

posted at 1:22 PM | link |