Is anyone following the Anonymous/Project Chanology stuff?

I've been reading on it a bit.

The thing that I just can't wrap my brain around is why people still join. There's the crazy tom cruise shit and the xenu and the clams. Scientology is a laughing stock, isn't it?

I miss snow days so much! Don't miss the unrelenting cold, though.

Fwiw, Jessica, I understand how you feel. I always preferred the snow to the cold rain in the winter. Rain is so much more depressing.

Mostly I'm just cranky with everyone who's freaking out about the snow. "YES, IT IS A LOT OF SNOW. So what? It happened, like, yesterday, and two weeks ago, and the week before that. Have you lost your long-term memory? The the hell is wrong with you people? We have the infrastructure and equipment to deal with this. It's not like it's snowing at the equator!"

Hee--The March of the Librarians, the ALA Midwinter Conference covered like a nature documentary.

Allyson, have you read Under the Banner of Heaven? It's written by the same guy who wrote Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer. My friend David told me yesterday that it is the best nonfiction he's ever read, and I would think it might appeal to you, too. It's about the history of Mormonism and spends some time dissecting the more radical and bizarre aspects of its history/faith. I need to pick it up; I'm very intrigued.

The thing that I just can't wrap my brain around is why people still join.

From what I can see, people join for the same reason they try fad diets: this time, if they only try hard enough, they'll become slim and lovely people whom everybody will love! And maybe they'll get to meet John Travolta! (Okay, the grapefruit diet does not involve meeting celebrities, unless they do their own grocery shopping.)

What's funny to me is how, despite all the hoopla, Scientology is actually a really tiny bunch of people. Wikipedia says there are only 55,000 of them in the US. Shoot, I could probably find more people in this country who think the world is flat!

Made it to work. I decided to avoid the (usually) 20 minute walk from downtown Evanston to work by taking a bus, which took more than 45 minutes (including waiting 20 minutes for the late bus and another 5 minutes while the driver went to the bathroom. Then we averaged about walking speed to get here.)

Allyson, have you read Under the Banner of Heaven?

Awesome book. And scary too, as maybe half to 2/3rds is the history of Mormonism and the rest is about two guys who were commanded by god to murder a woman and her baby.

I really liked pulling the lever and hearing all the gears in the machine move around. I was so disappointed when I was old enough to vote and they replaced all those older machines with electronic ones that just beeped.

They still had these in Philly at least through 1996, the last time I voted there. And they definitely have a romance to them that filling in bubbles with a pen does not.

Thirding or fourthing the recommendation for Under the Banner of Heaven.

NYC had the old school voting machine still in full use last year. I am not piositive that they will be gone by the next election. I've heard from several born and raised NYers that the votig machines are tied in with organized crime groups in the city.