Javabeans!

A little here, a little there, the Saturn never needs enough repairs to call it quits. Well, it just failed its emissions test. In thirteen years, it's always passed. Even now, it only failed the hydrocarbons, suggesting that it's simply not burning all its fuel (that's what the failure report said, anyway). That could mean it needs a tune-up, which is cheap, or a new catalytic converter, which is not cheap.

What's really irritating is that it just had a tune-up (my Mr. Tire adventures back in April, grrrrrr....), which only confirms in my head that the Mr. Tire in Annapolis couldn't find their lugnuts with a socket wrench.

However, we found a local mechanic, mostly by accident, that seems OK. This will be a good test case for him.

About a week ago, I noticed a headline about a man who found a leg in a barbecue grill. Huh. Morbid, I thought. Didn't bother reading the story.

However, it's back in the news again, has made a twist to the strange. It really is worth reading.

Click to read about the leg in the bar-b.

Some of you may have noticed that this year is being called the 25th anniversary of the smiley. Snopes (a wonderful urban legend resource) disagrees: check their citation. Normally I find Snopes to be well-researched, but I find this article to be off.

( What I sent them: (behind the cut) )

Thoughts? What do you think qualifies as an emoticon?

EDIT: Okay, I'm spending way too much time on this, but here are a couple of sites worth mentioning:
A "languagelog" site that gives a rather complete history of emoticons and (I should have looked here first) the wikipedia entry for emoticons. In both, they refer to the 1982 e-mail as the origin of what are now called emoticons. But they also reference similar symbolic usage (including the Aunt Ev -) symbol and some very creative strike-through symbols) as "proto-emoticons."

This means that the common usage of emoticon is maintained, and gets to celebrate its 25th in spite of snopes, but also puts the emoticon into historical perspective with its (pardon the pun) precursors.

Grumble grumble. In the last hour, I've started getting a feeling, you know, that feeling, of blah, pressure, throaty nasally pressure that warns you that yes, in a few hours, you are going to be miserable. Hmmm...Does blowing my nose at fest count as schtick? If my nose is going to feel like a lemon, maybe I can squeeze it...

Today is the 70th anniversary of the publication of Tolkien's "The Hobbit" -- so celebrate by having an extra meal or two, maybe go on an adventure, make new friends, and tell a riddle or three.

Can't believe this! Did you see the guy crying and screaming to "leave Britney alone!" on Youtube? Most painful two minutes of my life, and I only watched to the end hoping for a punchline (there wasn't). According to this msn article, the guy (Chris Crocker) will be getting a TV show! Imagine 30 minutes (or, gasp! a full hour drama?!?) of this guy! Oh, the agony! Can we vote him off the island now?

Check out this artist's site

Tiny works of art --- and make sure to scroll down to the last one! King Henry and wives!

While seeking some ren fest related info, I came across this Q&A session, by a guy who portrays Henry VIII in London.

Q&A with King Henry

You've probably heard the following joke, or similar, sometimes attributed as Einstein's favorite joke:

Einstein's favorite joke
A man whose car will only start after a lot of effort (push)
gets it to the mechanics
none can fix it after examination of the car
He finds the 7th mechanic, who inspects the car and looks at its assembled parts tightens the bolts and the car works!
The bill is $150.00
How dare you charge me it took only 30 seconds!
I want an itemized bill, so the Mechanic gives him one:

Itemized bill

Parts 0
Labor .11¢
"Knowing which screw to turn $149.89 "


My push lawnmower recently acquired an odd problem. I could start it (after priming it with that little red bulby thing), but after about two seconds it would stop. I'd prime it again, and the same thing would happen. The air filter and spark plug are relatively new, and the spark plug wire is secure. the oil level is fine, and yes, it has gas in it. The gas line is clear, and the line from the carburator to the engine is clear. Hurmph. I figured I would be taking it to the shop and dumping $150 into it for repairs, or maybe $250 for a new mower. But I Googled "lawnmower starts and stops" and lo and behold! Multiple sites all suggested a fouled carburator, and a couple indicated a cleaning method. There is a screw in the bottom of the carb that holds it on. The screw has a little hole through which the gas passes (ummmm...) and if it gets clogged, the engine will start, then stop! So I removed the screw, cleaned the hole with a paper clip, replaced the screw, and yay! the engine works fine again.

Google knows all, including which screw to turn.

(side note: you need to empty the gas from the engine, or tilt the mower appropriately, or all the gas will come out through the carb when you remove the screw)

NO WAR LEFT BEHIND

A lot of controversy has evolved over Bush's "no child left behind" education strategy, which forces schools across the country to impose testing to determine whether the schools "pass" or "fail" -- the results impacting the continued funding of the school. Congress has, in essense, done the same thing to Bush's Iraq War plans -- assigned benchmarks and declared that future funding will depend on pass or fail. But the president has declared that the benchmarks and their ratings are not fair, and that he should get additional funding based on his assessment, not the assessment of others.

In a draft report circulated this week, the GAO concluded that at least 13 of the 18 political and security goals for the Iraqi government have not been met. Administration officials on Thursday objected to several of the findings and dismissed the report as unrealistically harsh because it assigned pass-or-fail grades to each benchmark, with little nuance.

(from a wtopnews.com article)

From WTOPnews.com, here is a list of benchmarks including whether they were fully met, partially met, or not met.