I think that they need to come up with a better word for it than "lockdown". . . .it could be a fluffy pink alert. That way everyone would know that it's not serious. . . yet.

Ay yai yai.

I think that they need to come up with a better word for it than "lockdown". . .

Too true -- from what my friends were saying, it's kind of the alert equivalent of a fire alarm (get everyone in order, out, and accounted for) rather than the firemen breaking down the doors with axes, but the name really strikes me as an artefact of the whole macho-paranoid security climate.

Now WTOP is saying NINE schools are locked down. And I don't know if it's changed, or if I just misread it the first time.

They could call it everyone stay in your room time.

I *just* realized why one of the tech's at the vet's office looks so familiar: she bears a passing resemblence to Abby on NCIS. Same hair, coloring, personal style, chirpy warm personality.

Oh she's my favorite one!

Matt, I hope your dad's clot clears up soon. And that that's his last trip to the hospital for a good long time.

My co-worker brought in pumpkin whoopie pies that his wife the professional baker made. so so yummy. the filling has little bits of crystallized ginger.

Meet Thumbelina, the world's smallest horse

Standing just 17 inches tall, she is never going to be a champion show-jumper.

In fact, the tiny mare is so small she would struggle to leap over a bucket.

But such things are of little concern for feisty Thumbelina who has just been officially recognised as the world's smallest horse.

The thing is 60 lbs. Kinda like a midsize dog.

How on earth do they find shoes for Thumbelina?

edit: Maybe they just twist some paperclips around to the right size.

There's an opposite to the crystal-clear clarity state. It's when you get only five hours of sleep. I know it now.

ION, jobs for philosophers came out today. Bob is on the market this year. It's weird thinking about moving to Philadelphia...or Birmingham...or West Virginia.

This is one of the strange things about academia. The good jobs are so sparse that you can’t decide where you want to live and then go find a job there. You can't even decide on a section of the country. In the year that you go on the job market there might be six good jobs open across the whole country. If you’re fourtunate enough to get a job offer, you’re going to move to one of those six random places, whether you want to live there or not. It’s a bit like opening to a random page in the Rand-McNally, pointing your finger, and hoping for the best.

Of course, once you win the Nobel prize you can move anywhere you want. I just keep the Rand-McNally by the phone, so I'm ready when Stockholm calls.