:: makes mental note to go outside barefoot in backyard as soon as it isn't, like, FREEZING::

What if you live in an apartment?

Then Mother Earth hates you and you are doomed.

Cool painting: Still Life With Girl and R'lyeh by Adele Leibowitz. Worksafe.

Espesso: Coffee You Can Eat With a Spoon!

Yes, it's spelled like that on purpose. And while a lot of folks around here like coffee so thick you can literally scoop solid bits of it out with a spoon, this treat is…well, quite spoonable. It's edible coffee. Movable Feast compares it to a mousse, even. I say: brilliant. Then I whine petulantly and want to try some. I haven't wanted a product this badly since that Japanese coffee that came in a can which was marketed under the name GOD. Which I never was able to find, dammit.

I'm working on application stuff for UCIrvine and I need to write a statement of my teaching philosophy and wow and I just not in the groove for getting this done.

ND, if you're still working on this... This is probably obvious to you, but I just had an enlightening conversation about teaching philosophies with the person that trained me in grad school. I have a real problem with them because I think they are mostly bullshit and jargon and you never know what the person on the other end is expecting. She thinks they are important, but, interestingly, doesn't really care what methods the person uses or exactly what they say, it's more whether they've thought about their teaching at all. She says many of the ones she sees look like they have been cut and pasted from the web. Use that jargon, because some people think it is important, but she said to strive for a 50-50 mix of jargon and specific, personal examples from your teaching.

Ooh, the military has a new, non-lethal weapon! It's safe (or so they say). And I'm sure they'll never abuse it.

The crowd is getting ugly. Soldiers roll up in a Hummer. Suddenly, the whole right half of your body is screaming in agony. You feel like you've been dipped in molten lava. You almost faint from shock and pain, but instead you stumble backwards -- and then start running. To your surprise, everyone else is running too. In a few seconds, the street is completely empty.

You've just been hit with a new nonlethal weapon that has been certified for use in Iraq -- even though critics argue there may be unforeseen effects.

According to documents obtained for Wired News under federal sunshine laws, the Air Force's Active Denial System, or ADS, has been certified safe after lengthy tests by military scientists in the lab and in war games.

The ADS shoots a beam of millimeters waves, which are longer in wavelength than x-rays but shorter than microwaves -- 94 GHz (= 3 mm wavelength) compared to 2.45 GHz (= 12 cm wavelength) in a standard microwave oven.

[link]

I just hosed down my desk, both my telephones, my mouse, and keyboard with Clorox Disinfecting Wipes. That was gross.

I don't know if this will help me fight off whatever ick is currently trying to make me hate life, but at least now I know how dirty my desk isn't.

Going back to the SPN discussion:

PADDYWHACK was started by our own fannish crack twins, smonster and amyth. IIRC.

NCistas! there's a Trader Joe's now open in Cary! Did we know this???

Why isn't that man my president? Why?

Florida, 2000. Katherine Harris. IJS.