Month: March 2005

Note to the person who sent me a private email regarding a post I made last fall:

I consider what you sent threatening email. As such, I am considering sending it to AOL’s abuse department (I have already called them about the process, but did not forward them the email so they can act on it) and the local police department. I am not sure why you think it is okay to write to me personally because you don’t like my opinion about a politician. You know what? In America, people are allowed to voice displeasure over elected officials. You, on the other hand, are not allowed to email veiled threats against that person and their family. Trust me when I tell you that one of the only ways I will NOT contact AOL (who do not take kindly to this sort of thing), the person you are “defending” and the local authorities is if you apologize and use your REAL NAME when doing so.

I’m sure you weren’t thinking rationally when you sent it, and this is your opportunity to put an end to this before it gets escalated.

[Update: Oh honeybunch, I know who you are now. You may want to consider my kind offer.]

It’s going to be 45 tomorrow! Can you believe anyone on earth is excited about 45? Tells you what it’s been like around here. I’m going to ignore the fact that WXLO told me there might be snow Sunday because I’d have to go put a flaming bag of dogpoop on the weatherman’s front steps, y’know? Sunday is the first day of Spring. Leave us alone! Go away with your snow!

So I am soliciting ideas for fun things to do on a warmish day when the ground is still covered with snow. I have cheese money, so any suggestion is a valid one! Except for maybe something like swimming at the beach. Because we aren’t insane, okay? But hmmm. Maybe a nice cup of chowdah in Portsmouth?

Okay, it’s been a while since I posted links to sites that have earned my praise.

These are all work and family-friendly (well, the first one is unless you enter a search term that gets questionable results. But that would hardly be my fault.

Grant Robinson Online – He’s got a link to a project that makes a montage out of images it finds from a Google Search of a term you enter. (This is the one you need to think about before you choose your term. Mr. Dump Tried “Staples” as in the store and got a lot of images of post-surgery wounds. )

J B Brown’s Serious LEGO – Extreme LEGO creations, including one that will, if you can believe it, solve a Rubik’s Cube. I’m bummed because the link to the video is broken. I wanted to see it in action, but you can view notes and pictures.

How Much Is Inside – the website that dares to ask the question “How Much is Inside?” (Could you see that coming?) You want to know how much toothpaste is in a tube? How many CDs you can label with a single Sharpie? This is the place for you. Also, do not blame me if you lose hours of your life wandering around this site reading things like how he created a Jenga Halloween costume. I will not be responsible for you losing your job or your dinner reservations.

Yesterday’s post about the DaVinci Code was a barn burner. 11 comments at last count, which may be a new world, er, dump record. Especially because none of them were spam. Another dump record.

It’s St. Patrick’s Day today and crisis was averted when Junior realized he wasn’t wearing any green about 2 seconds before we left for the bus stop. You see, if I forget to wear green, well, nobody cares. But when you are in first grade, this is the kind of thing that can ruin your day. That’s the cool thing about elementary school, if you ask me. That love of celebrating anything and everything (as long as it isn’t Halloween, Easter or Christmas, because, well, we won’t go there, right?). I’m sure there’s going to be something green to eat and drink today. And stories about pots of gold and lucky clover.

Here at work? Not so much.

[Warning: Rant ahead]

Nothing gets the old heart pumping faster than reading about Cardinal Bertone with his knickers in a twist over a work of fiction. Apparently, Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code is dangerous to idiot Catholics all over the globe who are confusing fiction with truth. Instead of ranting and raving about Brown and his book, why don’t you worry about things that are actually important, sir? I can think of many MANY things going on in the world today that you should be focusing your energy on. It’s FICTION. To call it “rotten fruit” is subjective at best, but to actually take the stance that it is a “sackful of lies” is well, um, er, *cough* sort of how one might choose to actually define fiction. So way to pick something to take a stand on. It’s right up there with Dan Quayle attacking the sit-com Murphy Brown for glamorizing single motherhood.

But you go, sir. You fight the good fight, and all the people dying of starvation, and the ones dying of AIDs (cause heaven forbid they be allowed to use condoms) will just take care of themselves.