I just watched the Colbert interview -- how adorable it was! (And it will replay several times today, so if you missed it, you still have a shot at seeing it!)

As I was riding the bus this morning, I got to thinking....

OK, how many here got this big warning speech in grade school about the kid who stuck his head out the bus window and then got decapitated by a pole? How about the story of the kid who chocked this other kid as a joke, and the other kid suffocated and died? Or a story about a kid who slammed the door on another kid while playing, but the other kid got his finger smushed in the door hinges?

I'm trying to remember any other scare stories they told us... Oh, I had a 3rd grade teacher who told us we could all be killed at any moment - like, an engine could fall off a 747 and crash into the school and kill us all - so we'd better be sure we'd accepted Jesus into our hearts....

I just started watching Colbert, and it really is too cute for words.

I'm trying to remember any other scare stories they told us...

The headmaster at our secondary school would always end every cautionary tale by telling us that he knew a child who had done the forbidden thing and lost an eye. I always figured that the town with his previous school was full of people wearing eyepatches.

OK, how many here got this big warning speech in grade school about the kid who stuck his head out the bus window and then got decapitated by a pole?

I got this one. In fact, my mother's cousin *did* lose an arm sticking out the car window, which I'm afraid I found rather funny at 10, because I'd already been told a number of "don't stick body parts out of the car" urban legends before she told us about him.

First Space Lawyer Graduates

A student at the University of Mississippi will leap into the final frontier of the legal system Saturday when he receives the first-ever space law certificate in the United States.

Michael Dodge of Long Beach, Calif., earned the special distinction along with his law degree through the National Center for Remote Sensing, Air and Space Law at the university's law school.

"The professors and personnel here are the highest quality that can be found anywhere in the world, and I have learned from them the necessary skills I will need to effectively practice space law," Dodge said in a statement. "Ole Miss is, simply put, the space law expert, and anyone wishing practice in this field should get their legal education here."

Any future space lawyer might have to deal with issues ranging from the fallout over satellite shoot-downs to legal disputes between astronauts onboard the International Space Station. The expanding privatization of the space sector may also pose new legal challenges.

The secret lives of stormtroopers

Active SWM seeks SF, any species, for friendship and more. Likes long walks on the beach, dogs, building birdhouses for the blind, cooking for two, xylophone waltzes, styrofoam, cylinders and sports. Rebel chicks need not respond.

I like the one of the stormtrooper baking Christmas cookes.

Nice sheep guarding boys

why does the phone ring off the hook when my boss is not here?

So the shelf above the toilet strikes again. This morning, I accidentally flushed a bottle of Lancome moisturizer.

I have trained myself to keep the toilet lid down because I am such a fumble-fingers in the morning that I've dunked everything from allergy pills to jewelry to my toothbrush.

There's only so much indignity I can stand before coffee.