Javabeans!

This XKCD (online comic) made me snort.

Now I want nachos.

The weekend at Fest was long, cold, and wet. Perhaps the most dismal weekend of Fest I can remember, and yet the cast and crew came together and made the most of it. We found humor and warmth and music and love somewhere scattered in between the spitting rain. We chased away the bone-chilling cold with hot chocolate, coffee, and cider. And hugs. The way that families overcome strife in the dreariest of times. For Fest is very much a family, with its share of dear nieces and crazy uncles, and the cousin who loves practical jokes.

But I have another, dearer family gifted me by nature, which has suddenly felt the chill of death. My sister's father-in-law was walking near his New York home in the pre-dawn hours of Saturday morning, when he was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver. My sister and her husband are devastated, and my family is in shock. But we will support one another as we can, and look for humor and love between the tears, and find warmth in our words and in our hugs.

What is the importance of a coronation of a queen? Henry only had two of his wives coronated -- what are the implications?

Came across this Slate article about doctors' salaries and health care reform. Short, but worth the read. Feel free to discuss.

article clicky

Sometimes, the mind must boggles...

Jessica Simpson's dog was taken by a coyote.

Ms. Simpson tweeted about it, offering a reward for the dog's return.

clicky for article

Thank you everyone who completed my survey. Tonight and tomorrow I'll be analyzing the data using SAS, as part of a class I'm taking.

Thanks!

Very cool image. AFM (atomic force microscopy) does for microscopes what Hubble does for telescopes.

clicky for article

ROFLMAO at this XKCD, especially after seeing a couple furries running around the RenFest this weekend.

This morning, I had no aspirations beyond simply making it around my normal loop. 1.8 miles, mostly jogging, a couple bits of walking near the middle to catch my breath. But woo-hoo! I made it all the way 'round jogging! I was jogging kinda slow there near the end, but I did it!

Let's see if I can do it again on Friday morning...

acroyear70 made a post today about gravity as a weak force.

I'm waiting for "them" to discover that gravity is not a weak force, but a pair of opposing forces, one attractive and one repulsive. The net result on "normal" matter is slightly attractive, but the result on "dark" matter is slightly repulsive -- thus the universe (being mostly dark matter) continues to expand, and at an increasing rate.

Maybe there is a sci-fi novel in that idea somewhere. Activate the dark-matter gravimetric drive!