Why Is It...

...that the people with the loudest mufflers are the same people who think they have to warm up their car for five minutes before driving?

I just had one of those outside my window. It brought back memories of a neighbor who didn't just have the loudest muffler, he had the stinkiest exhaust. That's pretty much his car up there. Same color, too.

I didn't go to look at this car, but I didn't have to. God saw it. God remembers.

Can't Get There From Here

Recently, I made a road trip from here in Rockville to South Dakota and back. (Lessons learned: Indiana is beautiful, Illinois is very flat except near rivers, and people West of the Mississippi River are just too friendly.)

I also relearned a lesson I should have remembered: avoid driving in Pennsylvania. However, I wanted to see Wheeling, WV on the way back, so I planned a route that took me through a bit of Southwestern PA along Interstate 70, then South on US 219 back to Maryland. It looked easy enough on the map.

Then I encountered this interchange near Greensburg.

Your mission is to enter the map on 70 at the lower left and exit on 70 at the lower right. That's all you have to do. I still can't figure it out. At the time, I wound up taking US 119 South and justified it as "the scenic route".

(image from Google Maps, click for bigger)

An Unfortunate Choice of Words

"Commandos mop up last of Mumbai militants"

Ouch.

Let's Roll

Another "always bring your camera" moment. I found this one just as the tow truck was arriving.

The driver was a teenage boy who appeared unharmed. I overheard him talking to someone, saying he'd had "a lot of problems lately".

All I could think was, "I hope you like bicycles."

(click for bigger)

Movie Moments

Aubrey: The crew will take it badly. Wally was popular. Have they expressed any feelings on the matter to you?

Maturin: Jack, before answering I'm compelled to ask: Am I speaking with my old friend, or to the ship's Captain? You see, to the ship's Captain I'd say there's little I detest more than an informant.

Aubrey: Now you're talking like an Irishman.

Maturin: Well, I am an Irishman.

BREAKING NEWS

There must be a word to describe this sort of "journalism".

Asinine comes to mind.

Say This With Me

Adamantinomatous craniopharyngioma

"Craniopharyngiomas are thought to arise from ectopic nests of stomadeal epithelium left during the embryonic development of the adenohypophysis. Craniopharyngiomas are often designated as “adamantinomatous” when stellate cells and keratin pearls are prominent."

(Image of cholesterol crystals in adamantinomatous craniopharyngioma cyst fluid)

A Perfect 10

Cover the children's eyes.

This is Lydia Fixel. She's a "plus size" model.

The fact that she's plus size is proof that today's models are way too skinny-- but you already knew that.

(as usual, click for bigger)

Wow. Just Wow.

There's so much awesomeness in these clips.

They're from the other night's Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge. In the first clip, Asma gives Salman a toy barbell in tribute to his passion for weightlifting, and sings "Chunri Chunri".



As if that wasn't enough, Katrina gets Salman to dance with Asma, and the hosts coax Asma into singing in Arabic.



The quality of blogger.com uploads isn't that great. If you like what you see, (and how can you not?) you can watch the originals here and here. Many thanks to surinderr for the excellent vidcaps.

The Very Definition of Cheating

How do you get up the tallest mountain in the world? You climb it, of course, like Edmund and Tenzing (shown above) did.

What you don't do is drop onto it from an airplane.

Just so you know...

Joy

Long ago, sometime between late and early, I was hanging out with friends. Our host decided to treat us to a "special song", as he called it. I'd never heard it before.

As it turns out, it's a modern version of an old one. So old, in fact, it was written by J. S. Bach himself.

I recall my reaction. I had to coin a new term to describe just how I felt. I called it a "pleasure flash". If you've ever felt a transient moment of bliss (in a non-sexual way), you should understand.

So here it is. Watch for the cat.