I could do just the inner planets with the Sun being 25cm across and still fit Mars in the yard. The Earth would be about 2 mm across. Small, but doable.

Clearly someone didn't drink enough alcohol of sufficiently high proofage to prevent this...

I drank more over those five days than I have ever. And I still got the plague.

Too bad making fun of Kevin Sorbo took priority over our plans to get slightly schnozzled and go to the Harry Potter slash panel.

My cable/DVR remote is broken. Without it I can only flip through the channels from the box-- can't record, rewind, or watch something I've recorded. It's like the dark ages!

Yeah, I know what you mean. Earlier today I was thinking to myself, "Gee, remember when I had to use a modem to dial up an ISP, tying up my phone line?" (And then I responded, "Of course I remember that; I'm you, you idiot!") Yeah, back when going online required a modicum of planning ahead....

Well, I had two phone lines installed as soon as I moved out on my own. I knew I'd be spending a lot of time on the internet and would want my phone free. Still, the phone bills weren't fun. (I think moving to the cable modem and dropping the second phone line and old ISP actually ended up being cheaper for me.) But having to sit there and wait while the modem dialed up definitely took a away from the whole "let me check this real quick" factor.

Funny thing was, I originally told myself I didn't need a cable modem, then I went to visit a friend who had one for a week and immediately signed up for the service when I got home.

Dana, you must tell stories about making fun of Kevin Sorbo.

Too bad making fun of Kevin Sorbo took priority over our plans to get slightly schnozzled and go to the Harry Potter slash panel.

The food was really good, too. And when we finally got back to the hotel Saturday night, I thought my sore throat was due to all the muffled snickering.

I shoulda drank more sake.

bon's making fun of my childhood!

I still have dialup at home. I pretty much have to have new tech delivered to me on a silver platter already set up and ready to go.

I'm lazy.

Dana, you must tell stories about making fun of Kevin Sorbo.

It was mostly the fact that we'd been making fun of him all weekend. Having his tables located next to the Firefly tables couldn't have been too good for his ego.

Then, at Saturday night dinner, we looked up and realized that the people at the next table were Jewel Staite, her husband, Kevin Sorbo, and Steve Bacic. The rest of dinner was spent making Kevin Sorbo jokes. Quietly. Sort of.

Oh, and I forgot the reason I came to Natter in the first place.

Dreamhost, the company that hosts the New Orleans Children's Chorus website, is waiving hosting fees for people affected by Hurricane Katrina. That was a really nice e-mail to get this morning.

More stories about the government restricting media access to New Orleans. It sounds like this is drifting closer to the "C" word:

Marshall points us to a blog post from NBC's Brian Williams, who tells of a National Guard sergeant ordering a camera crew to back away from troops setting up near a Brooks Brothers store in New Orleans and an out-of-town cop who aimed her weapon at a group of journalists. Williams writes: "Someone else points out on television as I post this: The fact that the National Guard now bars entry (by journalists) to the very places where people last week were barred from leaving (the Convention Center and Superdome) is a kind of perverse and perfectly backward postscript to this awful chapter in American history."

Meanwhile, the blog Operation Flashlight has this report: "We are in Jefferson Parish, just outside of New Orleans. At the National Guard checkpoint, they are under orders to turn away all media. All of the reporters are turning their TV trucks around."

[link]

Troops tried to turn Oprah away from the Superdome. Being Oprah, she managed to get in anyway.