Unshelved	by Bill Barnes and Gene Ambaum

A quick update on the wonders of Mother Nature

By the time I got up this morning, the creek behind my house had receded to a fraction of its engorgement the previous night. Today dawned beautiful and sunny, with a light wind and pleasant temperatures. It was if Nature gave a sigh of relief.

I walked down to the marshy area over by the willow pictured in one of the previous photos, to find the water level making the pond more respectable, and cavorting taking place.

The best guess I can make is that it was beavers, or maybe minks. They were swimming, and given the displacement, maybe a couple feet in length, and turning and churning the water noisily. But they blended in well with the water, and I only glimpsed reddish brown fur, face and ears a couple of times--no tails--and so quick I wasn't sure of what I'd seen. Beavers tend to be active at night, but with all the flooding, they may have been making repairs, and minks might have been fishing. I've seen a mink in the area (near the creek at the old apartment that had been hit by a car, so I know they're in the area). On the other hand, the marsh does look like it's got a dam jutting into it, probably man-made but possibly piggy-backed onto by a beaver colony. Any ideas, nature buffs?

Whatever they were, they were having fun!

Eilir raved on 23:29

Are you an artist? Do you want incentives to relocate? Free business lots? Free web pages and marketing?

Well, there is a catch; you have to settle in Western Kentucky, specifically, Paducah. But, on the upside, Paducah is pretty centrally located for those going to arts & crafts festivals, in the Kentucky-Illinois-Missouri-Tennessee conjunction, and it's on the interstate and the Ohio River. And, Western Kentucky has beautiful landscapes, lots of lakes and caves, recreation areas, etc., etc.

Paducah Artist Relocation Program

Eilir raved on 23:20

Librarian Approved

This is on my wish list as soon as I can afford $35 on something not rent, food, or bills.

Book Database Software for your book library : Collectorz.com Book Collector

I downloaded the trial copy, which is fully featured but has a limit of 100 books. I put in 50 books in about about an hour, including some older, published before ISBNs or even in the nineteenth century, which is much, much faster than my normal pace of about 10 an hour on a good day. With two collections to catalogue totally about 7,000 books, this could make my life much, much easier.

It would also be great for a small library such as mine at work; we have about 1,500 books, mostly medical texts. The pro version works with PDAs and barcode scanners. I had to cobble things together the old-fashioned way. This would have had me up and running much more quickly.

Eilir raved on 23:17

Silly me

Okay, I was generally distracted by a funnel cloud that went over my subdivision earlier. But once the all-clear was announced and I let the animals out of my bathroom, I took a digital camera I have borrowed and snapped a picture of the water outside, which was making me a little nervous, with all the flood warnings.



Then I decided to check the back, thinking the creek might have risen a little. This is what I found.



Note that the yard normally ends where the bushes begin, and the creek begins about twelve feet beyond that!

To give you an idea of what it's like normally, I snapped this picture a couple of days ago:



Not the same spot, but from about the same distance from the water.

Eilir raved on 20:06

It never fails that when I move

something untoward happens in my new area. Once a man was shot to death a block away when I moved downtown. This area, which has very little crime, was spotlit in the following story about a house invasion and robbery again, within a block or two of my house. Once again, I know this because of Dwana who saw it on the news yesterday and called her friend Heather, who lives on that street. She's become quite the early warning system. Later she passed on the info to me. Apparently this is the second such case in the last couple of weeks.

I did have a couple of young men show up today supposedly doing something for school, although to be honest I didn't listen through the whole spiel. I probably shouldn't have opened the door. Must remember that next time. In my defence it was right before I talked to Dwana, and I was a little startled to hear my doorbell ring (and I'd been in the bathroom) that I just went ahead and opened it. Still no harm done. For the record, I have nothing really worth stealing, folks; my house is pretty much taken up with books, and none that would fetch much on eBay. I've always tended to worry more about my person and that of my animals in the case of a break-in.

Well, I think it's time to turn in. I did (finally) wake enough to unpack about four boxes and go get a friend who'd put in a 14-hour shift at work, poor thing. I feel a lot better. I don't think I quite realised how tired I'd become. I don't know if it was left over from the move or what. But I'm glad I got some rest, even if I did feel like a slug earlier.

Eilir raved on 02:32

It figures

that with our first tornado in 18 years, Lexington-Fayette's silent sirens blamed on glitch or 'human error'.

Still, I'm glad they've gone to the effort of putting in the sirens. Having lived in Kansas, which is plagued by frequent tornadoes, our towns siren was quite a comfort, blaring every day at noon by way of test. Here they go off every Wednesday. I don't know if I can hear any from the new place; I was near enough to one at the old one to hear the sirens inside and the PA system to boot, because I lived near one of the high schools, and that's where it was located.

Since I don't have cable right now, and I can't get any of the broadcast stations to come in, I relied on Dwana to alert me during the second run of storms, and just watched carefully during the first. Fortunately it didn't hit on my side of town nearly as hard. We had hail and strong winds, and a lot of rain and lightning, but nothing else.

Eilir raved on 02:13

Interesting Climatology Article

After a Period of Brightness, Earth Dims, Researchers Say

Eilir raved on 02:05

If he can survive depression, he may have a future in writing spy novels...

Boy Poses As Internet Spy To Plot His Own Murder

One does wonder how the law treats someone who plots their own murder. Obviously the boy he duped made a choice in attempting to stab him to death, and is therefore guilty of attempted murder. But what about his own role? It's definitely conspiracy to commit murder, but is there such a thing as conspiracy to commit suicide? And if you trick someone into trying to kill you, does that negate the person's actions who was following your lead in any way? I wouldn't think so, but it's definitely a tangled legal issue for the British courts to sort out. I just hope they both get help.

Weird.

Eilir raved on 02:00

It's way past time

for there to be a National WWII Memorial.

I guess part of the reason there was a Vietnam memorial first was because of the US' collective guilt over how the Vietnam vets were treated when they came home. Then came the Korean memorial, another 'police action' that was never really recognised as a war. Everyone tended to take WWII sacrifices for granted, I suppose, because they were so widespread, with everyone pitching in to do whatever they could, either in foreign battles or here at home.

I'm glad the WWII vets have finally come into their own. It's sad that it took so long, and with so many already passed. I have three grandparents who were veterans of that war; all are dead. One fought at Iwo Jima, one was a nurse in Europe; her husband served in the Pacific.

So for them...and the other 1100 vets we lose every day, a special memorial this day of remembrance.

To Edgar Craig, Frances Vanarsdall, and Allan Madison Broadbent, thank you.

And a thank you to those who are serving currently and have served. Although I am usually against war, I deeply respect our men and women in uniform, and the sacrifices they and their families make everyday. As someone who is the daughter of a Vietnam veteran, who grew up on Air Force bases, who always saluted the flag at parades long before 9/11, I was raised to care about soldiers and their welfare. Thank you all.

Today is the real Memorial Day (not tomorrow, which is really just a holiday of convenience, and it makes as much sense to move it as, say, to redesignate Pearl Harbour Day or the 9/11 anniversary so everyone can get a three-day weekend). Take a few moments to think about those who have died to give you a life that--with all its warts--is still one of relative freedom and prosperity.

Eilir raved on 00:11

Today is my grandmother's 80th birthday

She can't believe it, either. Happy birthday, Ma. I didn't go home today, because I really didn't feel up to driving and I had a strong feeling that it wasn't a good day to go (laugh all you want...those same 'feelings' have saved my mom and me on several occasions, usually involving deer; let's not forget it's a holiday weekend with crazy drivers). But I did call and talk to her for awhile. It turns out that my stepdad is about to go to 12-hour shifts and his son and daughter-in-law are coming next weekend, so my mom and he are spending some quality time together this weekend. Also, my aunts and uncles are all coming in the weekend of June 21st, so I'll go home then; we don't get a chance to see each other very often.

Eilir raved on 22:33

I feel blah

First day of a long weekend and I think I've spent a total of about an hour out of bed. Last night I had a terrible headache, sinus but bordering on migraine intensity. Today I'm all achy. I think it's just a reaction to the post-storm temperature drop and the impending new ones that are supposed to hit today. Well, that and a lot of tiredness. Since I have plans for Sunday and Monday, I think I'm just going to take today off for me. Obviously I've already taken care of the resting part. Now I'm to the gee, I'd like to take a bath part. And if I can round up some caffeine and turn on the radio maybe, just maybe, I can manage to take Cerys for a walk and unpack some of these boxes!

Eilir raved on 16:17

Scary

WKYT 27 NEWSFIRST & WYMT Mountain News - Storms Moving Through; Extensive Damage

We may have had a tornado touch down in Lexington tonight, and new storms are on their way. The damage was primarily on the other side of town from where I live, although when I went to get a friend from work tonight the subdivision a block south of me had no power.

I know someone who just bought a house in Masterston Station, but it seems to have been a different part of that area. Dwana is a little freaked. In addition to her friend Heather's house in Masterston Station, her in-laws live at Mallard Point, her mom and stepdad live near Sadieville, and we have a co-worker who lives on the north end of town where some of the other damage was.

I've always had a phobia of storms--my baby book lists me screaming when there was thunder before I could otherwise verbalise--but over the last few years it's lessened, thanks in part to a concerted effort on my part to deal with them and the my anti-anxiety medication (thank you, Paxil). But my dog has developed a fear of them now--she pants and licks before they hit, then shakes the whole while. I can see where she might have picked the fear up from me--there were plenty of times she felt me stiffen or otherwise express fear; the thing I don't understand, though, is that this is a recent a recent development (since about February or March), at the very time when I'm not having trouble any more. Weird. Anyway, I just try to cuddle up with her and help her through it.

I can hear the new thunder in the distance; I should probably sign off. Oh, one more thing:

Kentucky State Police suspect arson in the 'Castle' FIre, which destroyed one of our local landmarks.

Eilir raved on 01:49

We did it!

Okay, I'm not sure the sheer joy of this will be understood by those of you who haven't seen the books...but...

Roleplaying books are issued in installments, usually as either resources or advanture collections/campaigns. They are sometimes indexed, sometimes not, which can present a problem when you go to look something up.

Our Cthulhu game incorporates elements from White Wolf publishing's Werewolf series for part of the magic system. There are many, many Werewolf books, most of which are owned by our gamemaster, but still, it can be a little difficult to find a particular gift or rite.

So...over the last few months I have been (as part of my weekly bribe to keep my characters alive) typing in information from the Werewolf books into a series of hyperlinked Word files for easy searching/cross-reference. We started with the basic books, and then on to all the tribe books, with certain changes to meet our game's needs. We now have finished all of these, as of last night. Hoody-hoo! That leaves only the Asian and other shapechanging tribes, and a few scattered ones through the minor books. But all gifts, talismans, rites, and deities are in the computer otherwise. By the end, it'll span dozens of books. Of course, since it's all copyrighted, we can't post it for others, but for our own use it'll really help, and it's already worth it, because we can cut and paste for each character or check off things as we get them. Yay! I ought to do a word count so those of you not familiar with the books have some idea of how much work it is.

Eilir raved on 23:54

I have made a discovery this muggy night

Bear with me, those of you raised on farms or otherwise knowing in the way of wild birds. None of the farms I lived on had geese.

Whenever I walk Cerys late at night, I hear the most unusual sound coming from the nearby wetland. I noticed it the first night I was here, and it seemed like a goose or a duck, but a low, regular, almost humming sound. After a couple of nights, it seemed so regular that I began to wonder if it were some sort of electric equipment; there are a few boxes in the same direction that belong to the phone company and electrical company.

But no, it is most definitely the geese. Check out the Mediaeval Bestiary : Goose for a description of the warning cries of geese, who are quite able 'watchdogs' and can smell humans better than any other animal. Lewis & Clark complained about their noise as well.

In the case of this area, the geese and ducks aren't so noisy as to encroach upon the homes around the pond. I can't hear them from inside, and even with how otherwise quiet it is here, I can only hear them if I come within about 50 yards of the area where they nest on the water. Still, it's kind of interesting. I've heard geese fly overhead at night (sounding like the Wild Hunt), but I didn't realise they made noise on the ground in the dark, too. I find the odd thrumming rather comforting.

By the way, I got most of the kitchen unpacked tonight. But I have inexplicably lost my roll of trash bags. Tomorrow I'll ask the house nicely for them back. It's so nice to have a clean apartment (minus the boxes everywhere) from which to start from scratch. Between Buns' illness and my depression, I let the last one go for stretches at a time. In the nearly two weeks I've been here I've swept twice, mopped once, taken the trash out twice, and cleaned out the catboxes every day-and-a-half, on top of putting furniture and stuff into place. I threw away a lot of junk (and put out some good stuff I really didn't have any room for) before I came here. There are maybe three boxes of papers and another four or five boxes of general stuff to go through. Everything else should be able to go straight to a place. Yipee! Order from chaos!!! And, not to be too anal, but I'm labelling my books as I sort through them with Dewey numbers (a friend is going to help me shelve them) and I'll hopefully be able to enter them into a database for easy reference. With about 3000, after all, I have a good sized personal library. I'm tired of accidentally getting the same book in a series of mysteries I'd already read, for example. There is one Anne Perry book I have bought twice and checked out of the library once, and I can't seem to ever find the one after that. :)

Okay, time to go. 'Night.

Eilir raved on 00:55

I am so harmed by...Bubba Ho-Tep!

Bubba Ho-Tep arrives on DVD May 25th!!!

I'm not sure how I missed this Bruce Campbell flick, but I'll definitely have to check out the DVD. Elvis, along with a black guy who thinks he's JFK, takes on ancient Aegyptian horror stalking his nursing home. Aggghhhh!!!! It's as harmful as the Coon-thulhu stuffed animal a guy I knew brought back from somewhere.

Eilir raved on 23:16

lithograph come zealous eft

Which is an intriguing subject line for a bit of spam I received. I think it would go nicely into spam poetry.

I've posted several links today, but I really haven't written. So, let me do a little bit of a recap.

I woke up from a terrible nightmare that involved classes, missed tests, buses, a dog in imminent danger, bureaucracy, a driver that wouldn't let me on the bus to save my dog no matter how much I paid, etc., etc. In other words, a typical anxiety dream, despite my having taken my Paxil.

At the hospital I spent most of the day in a 70s daze, designing a bulletin board (because I'm the 'creative one') with a 70s theme and listening to disco music for effect.

At the station, I fiddled with a page for 2 1/2 hours, thinking I would be outdone by a table cell, but finally reaching victory.

And now, dear reader, I do believe I should log off because a storm is brewing and my surge protector's phone jacks have be fried before and therefore are of no use in protecting against lightning.

Ta.

PS I miss Dwana. She has been on vacation from Friday through today. Things have been fairly routine (no odd adventures) at work as a result. :( But she'll be back tomorrow. :)

Eilir raved on 18:43

Madrid bombings case thrown out against Oregon attorney

Because the FBI made a mistake with the fingerprint ID. Oops. That's embarrassing. In a major 'no-of-course-we-don't-target-Muslims' way. I smell a lawsuit.

CNN.com - Madrid bombings case thrown out against Oregon attorney - May 24, 2004

Although, to be fair, fingerprint identification, although a science, is subjective in terms of how an expert interprets the evidence. And this war on terror is being staged in the media's eye, so things that would never have made it into the news years ago are around the world in minutes.

Still, hands up all of you who thought it seemed strangely out of place in terms of all the other evidence found. Good. Some of you were paying attention.

Eilir raved on 18:39

Science news from my old stomping grounds

CNN.com - Spaceport to rise in California desert

I used to live on Edwards AFB, where you get very used to supersonic aircraft. Believe it or not, I would bike 3 miles across rattlesnake infested trail bike paths to go swimming at the poool. Unfortunately, I only got to see the Space Shuttle when it was being ferried around on Boeings; the first lift off into space wasn't until a couple years after I left Edwards. But I remember the stark (my friends would say alien) landscape fondly, and I still love to spot Joshua Trees on movie and TV show sets.

Eilir raved on 18:32

A local story that may make some waves

Former Soldier Claims He Was Beaten During Training Exercise In Cuba

Eilir raved on 18:19

Interested in accessibility? Or just a good use of audioblogging?

This librarian who lost his sight as a child will tell you all about challenges facing library users with vision issues.

Blind Chance: David Faucheux's Library Blog

Eilir raved on 18:01

Maybe it was the PMS

Salesperson for a product I've heard of but couldn't possibly afford on my budget and which our small library doesn't need: Hello, I'm X, from Y, and I'm your new account representative, and so I just wanted to introduce myself to you and see how our product can help you.
Me: But we don't subscribe to Y. How can we have an account? How can you be our account rep?
Salesperson: Well, yes, you see, that's why I'm calling....
Me: I really don't think I'm interested, thank you.
Salesperson acts shocked but exits reasonably gracefully.

Maybe it was rude, but I really don't see any reason to waste salespeople's time or mine by listening to the whole spiel for something I know is out of our league. I learned a long time ago as a telephone survey researcher (academic, not telemarketing) that it takes a direct, 'sorry, not interested' to keep the calls from stacking up in the future.

Also, in the time I've been in this position (seven years! ancient!) I've learned a lot about sneakiness as a business tactic. Oh, I'm not saying they were particularly so--although really, there's a difference between an account rep and a sales pitcher. No, I'm talking about publishers who send books with an invoice making it look like you've had a standing order so the newbie will pay for it--and then send a new 'annual' edition three months later. Or the ones that say 'I talked to X person in your company and they authorised the shipment'...even if it was a secretary or even a non-existent person. Or the magazines that send renewal notices for things you don't subscribe to, on the chance you might. Since it can be difficult to figure these things out, especially if you're new to the position or the field, it works for them quite often. I had one such experience where it was like pulling teeth to send the things, and where I had other department bringing me the ones they'd received, too. I finally did two things: 1) instituted a policy where we do not accept books on review (so I can tell them that up front, and they can send me the literature if they want, but not the book) and 2) any unsolicited item I receive is dutifully catalogued and a letter thanking them for their donation to the library is made. See, unsolicited things received in the mail are not actually required to be paid for or for that matter, returned. I have also made postal fraud complaints in severe cases.

The thing that gets me about the really blatant abusers is that they act like librarians don't all get together and compare notes. We're incredibly tech savvy, after all. Just go the the MEDLIB-L archives and type in 'Faulkner & Gray' if you want an example. I'm sure lots of other lists do likewise.

Speaking of the list, I also got a couple of reminders that I wasn't able to get approval to go to the Medical Library Association's annual meeting. One of my counterparts at another hospital called me from Washington DC to ask me if I'd like for her to look at some of the job openings, which was rather nice. I doubt I could take a job in another hospital due to my latex allergy, unless the facility was latex free like my current workplace. But it's worth a look. Another colleague who didn't get to go was out there asking for a bit of a chat. He deals a lot with health information in Spanish, so I told him about the efforts here in Lexington to promote a new branch serving primarily a Spanish-speaking populace.

Eilir raved on 14:50

Came across this whilst researching the 70s for a project at work

Have A Nice Decade: The '70s Pop Culture Box - liners

It's a decent overview of of the decade.

Eilir raved on 13:22

:)

Scotsman.com News - JK Rowling & Harry Potter - Rowling goes undercover to test Harry Potter plot lines

and apparently her suggestions for the 7th book were dismissed by the fans in the chat room.

In the end, I gave up trying to impart any gems of wisdom and joined the discussion about SpongeBob SquarePants.

If I were a wildly popular author, I'd do that. I sometimes wonder, for example, if Barbara Mertz, who writes the Amelia Peabody books under the name Elizabeth Peters, incorporates some of her fans' comments and questions into her writing, because often it seems the next book will answer some great curiosity we tried to work out at some point before on a discussion board. She seems to have a good rapport with fans. It's an important skill that most writers probably don't think about in the beginning.

I think any bestselling author has to remember that whatever the reasons for writing--an inner impetus, to pay the rent, whatever--it is the fans who buy the final product, and publishing goes through phases and fads just like anything else, so just because one book is a great hit, it doesn't mean all will be. It still means--hopefully--good writing (although to be honest, that's not always a prerequsite to sell books), characters people can identify with, and the right balance of elements to draw someone in for a time.

There are some (probably not so wildly successful) authors who would not deign to talk about a cartoon in lieu of their own book ideas. It's kind of refreshing.

Eilir raved on 10:56

Tell us what you really think

about France, America, and Michael Moore. Two-faced, this French kissing of a slob - Paddy McGuinness - www.smh.com.au

Actually, unlike many librarians, I'm not a fan of Michael Moore. I do consider him rude, crude, and just as biased as any right-winger. And although the delivery's a little simplistic, there is a lot of truth in this particular commentary. Maybe more Americans need to pay attention to the rest of the world's rhetoric.

Eilir raved on 10:44

With tongue firmly in cheek

Check out The New Alphabet: From the Warrior Librarian.

Eilir raved on 09:30

Garroting oneself to death by shoelace with a spoon to tighten it nicely?

Sounds like a job for Sherlock Holmes! Just because someone is paranoid doesn't mean no one is out to get him. One does wonder, as it's a particularly odd way to commit suicide.

TheStar.com - Intrigue surrounds Conan Doyle's papers, mainly in the death of the scholar obsessed with the collection's fate.

Eilir raved on 02:43

Blogger: User Profile: Eilir Rowan

I like the new Blogger Profile, especially the statistics area...

Avg posts per week=10
Posts written=1,456
Words written=431,455
Outbound links=2,927

My it's been a busy almost-three-years!

Eilir raved on 01:56

Everything I've read indicates that the folks in Atlanta are probably cracking open the bubbly...

...and rightly so.

LISNews.com | Atlanta PL Director Mary Kaye Hooker Fired

Although it's sad when it takes an act of the legislature to enable such a divisive director to be fired. You can check out the AFPL Watch site for details on how the people under her felt. It's also sad that AFPL's system problems go way beyond the upper management; Mary Kaye Hooker was just one in a line, and the unwieldy board, politics as usual, and idiosyncratic division of authority all contributed to the implosion of the institution. Here's hoping there can be some healing now.

Eilir raved on 23:24

More than anything

this shows the power of the Internet's immediacy, the problem with disseminating complex information that often is related as if black and white, and the danger of people's tendency to act based on what they read rather than checking things out for themselves.

Salon.com Life | Curve ball [choose a free day pass to see the whole article and read it carefully].

The author compares the Curves crisis to that of the former head of Domino's Pizza, and asserts that that boycott was based on true info. Well, not exactly. At least not these days, when Tom Monaghan sold his part of Domino's some time ago, and it was never the pizza company making donations, but a separate foundation. Check out the Urban Legends Reference Pages for the skinny on Curves and Domino's before storming out in righteous indignation. For the other side of the coin, look up the entry on similar accusations on the pro-choice side. Oh, and keep in mind the difference between X person supports Y cause and X company supports Y cause. I think most of us would agree that how an individual chooses to contribute his or her wealth is up to that individual.

Eilir raved on 20:36

I feel punky

...as one friend puts it. Achy, especially in my joints, feeling like my hands and feet are swollen, headache, a little clammy, blah. I thought maybe my blood sugar was off, but I ate and didn't feel any better. So maybe it's hormonal; I'm about a week before my period, which usually is when I have PMS symptoms. Whatever it is, I wouldn't say I'm sick, per se, I just don't feel like doing anything.

Thinking that maybe I had just been inactive and at the computer too much at work, I did go out briefly with my dog and walked her around and down to the little reservoir on our side of the road. I saw butterflies, dragonflies, and startled several frogs. I suspect there will be a huge crop of mosquitoes, although there are fish in the water, so most will be eaten before they have a chance to get airborne. There was a kid playing baseball with himself, where he'd throw the ball up in the air and hit it. I kind of felt sorry for him, like maybe he needed someone to be his pitcher. On the other hands, these days random adults probably shouldn't be coming up and introducing themselves to kids.

Part of me would like to at least do a little unpacking. I have the furniture where I want it and some labels to help organise the books. But I just feel blah, even with the reddish light from the sunset streaming in from my window. So I'm going to take a nap, and maybe get up later and do some reading. Blah.

Eilir raved on 19:55

Quote for the day:

from Cameron Tuttle's Bad Girl calendar [well, actually it was for yesterday, but I'm just getting around to typing it in]:

If you don't follow through on your big idease, someone else will.

Eilir raved on 14:14

What a great idea

Those who know me know that I tend to hoard things, beyond the packrat status, especially stuff that 'could be useful' but not to me. I don't like to waste things. Paxil helps, and certainly this last move jettisoned much of my clutter, but I still hate the feeling of throwing away something that someone could use. In the past, your best bet was set something out to the kerb and wait for art students to scrounge 'found objects'. Or, you could do what a friend of mine does--pick a random person out of the phone book and send unwanted but useable stuff as a gift. Now there's an alternative.

Freecycle.org, whose motto is 'changing the world, one gift at a time' allows you to post things you'd like to get rid of and others can post what they're looking for, so long as it's free. There are about 260 freecyclers in Lexington, and I'm about to make it 261. :)

Eilir raved on 10:44

What a hoot

I was listening to Bob and Sheri on the radio whilst wending my way through the backroads to avoid construction on Richmond Road and they had on Ruby Ann Boxcar. 'She' was hilarious. 'Her' website is even more so, and it brought back memories of elementary school gym, where they taught us to dance to that tune (is it the Alley Cat?) Be sure to take a tour of the two-story double-wide trailer.

The character is such a caricature of 'white trashness'--rather than just Southern culture--that it's funny rather than offensive, especially since it's obviously meant to be humourous, and, of course, being done by a 'big ol' drag queen'--although I do wonder if there are some out there who would be fooled by Ruby's sheer womanliness. :) It definitely added some pep to my day.

Eilir raved on 10:31

Interesting bit of 70s trivia

I'm doing some research for an upcoming event at work and came across this from 1972: Super70s.com: Stewardess Survives 33,000ft Crash!

Eilir raved on 13:38

But to be fair

neither is this: More on prison abuse; US attack on village kills 40

Eilir raved on 10:26

I'm not an expert

But surely this isn't the way to go?

Scotsman.com News - Latest News - Israel Ignores Outcry and Pushes Deeper into Refugee Camp