Now authorities face the risky task of getting rid of the explosives. The property is so dangerous and volatile that that they have no choice but to burn the home to the ground this week in a highly controlled operation involving dozens of firefighters, scientists and hazardous material and pollution experts.

(The whole set is worth looking at, if you want a taste of Baltimore's xmas parade. It's a lot, but it is awesome!)

I am simultaneously disappointed and relieved that I will not be in Baltimore for Christmas.

Baltimore is special. I love it (clearly.) It's so interesting and unselfconscious and broken and proud and homey and friendly and complicated. And it is beautiful.

Really hoping this is nowhere near any of our California-istas!!

Nope, but I used to live there. And am flying in, I think, Thursday. I should make sure the freeway is reopened.

That is honestly just messed up. I hope the controlled burn stays controlled.

Nosy Jack of Hampden? I swear to you, that is EXACTLY what my neighborhood's 4th of July parade is like.

A big damn burrito.

...yeah, I have no idea. Anyone who pays the entry fee can be in the parade. Groups of friends are encouraged to enter, and come up with a theme. Like lawn gnomes. Or the kilt guys who say Down With Pants.

And possibly my favorite out of all the years, random luchadores. (Who were followed by a political candidate. That is my neghborhood in a nutshell.)

If you don't know Jack...

It amuses me that groups come from out of town to be in our parade. It's that kinda special, apparently. There were star wars and metal masks and central american dance troupes. And local vintage cars and high school dance troupes who really shook their asses like whoa. Teen guys seriously working it in metallic hotpants and an evangelical christian float informing folks christ was coming with multiple young Jesuses.

Huh, you can eventually find anything on the internet. Yeah, that house is about a mile, two max, from an old place of mine. Scarier, it is literally right on the edge of an eight-lane freeway. Man, I hope that goes well. I guess I'll know when I drive by.

Yeowch, that Escondido house is scary. And I have a very hard time believing burning down the house is the best idea. More like they want to play Mythbusters or something. If I were one of the neighbors, I'd be pissed.

I worry about that house. Because they just want to burn it down, but there are explosives in it. Won't they go BOOM?

And y'all remember the story about the whale carcase the OR highway patrol decided to explode, right? I mean, seriously.

ION, the webfilter at work figured out how to block Gmail. And Dreamwidth. (They've blocked B.org all along.) Argh. Nutty tells me I need a smartphone. Bah.

Consuela, you've tried alt.buffistas.net, right?

Jezebel doesn't lower the boom on sugardaddyforme.com, exactly. Enh. It's not exactly a big deal. I don't get how people do it, but seriously, it's done all over.

I don't know what this is about, but I'd still hit it.