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.

setting up near a Brooks Brothers store in New Orleans

That store is in the Canal Place mall, at the foot of Canal Street.

The rest of dinner was spent making Kevin Sorbo jokes. Quietly. Sort of.

And we got progressively less quiet, to the point where I was slinking down in my chair, hiding my face in my hands, and moaning, "Oh my god."

Not to mention that a waitress came by our table to tell us that we were sitting next to Kevin Sorbo. Which we already knew, because we could tell it was him from the back of his big giant head.

"Is anyone here in line for Mr. Sorbo? Anyone?"

to the point where I was slinking down in my chair, hiding my face in my hands, and moaning, "Oh my god."

It was the Kevin Sorbo dildo joke, wasn't it.

It was the Kevin Sorbo dildo joke, wasn't it.

t muffled shrieking noises

Yay, Stephanie!! That's wonderful news!!

There are places that have large-scale models ("large" being relative here) of the sloar system. I think the biggest one has Pluto 20 miles away from the sun.

There's one in Peoria! Well, the sun's in Peoria. Pluto is 40 miles away, in Kewanee.

Tour the Solar System by bicycle

OK, that's cool.

Depending on your planetary destination, there are options for every member of your family, for riders of all ages and abilities. Road routes, trail routes or any combination are available. For example:

• Jupiter-Saturn-Jupiter - (Rock Island Trail) 1.5 billion miles (12mi.)
• Sun-Jupiter-Sun - (Sunday a.m. city streets) 2 billion miles (13 mi.)
• Saturn-Uranus-Saturn - (Rock Island Trail or roads) 1.5 - 2.1 billion miles (12 - 17 miles)
• Saturn-Neptune-Saturn - (Rock Island Trail or roads) 4 - 5.1 billion miles (32 - 41 miles)
• Through the Kuiper Comet Belt to Pluto (must depart by 7:30 am) - 14 billion miles (100 mi.)
• The Inner Solar System & Historic Peoria 3 billion miles (24 mi.)

eta:

Whatís Included in the Registration Fee

• Bragging Rights - Who else can say they've cycled to Pluto?
• Reversal of the aging process - Since ride speeds will be in excess of the speed of light (186,000 miles per second) there are relativistic implications. Some observers predict that participants will actually return younger than when they started.

Heh.