Speaking of those Somali pirates, I was pleased to hear the morning radio show hosts on WGN tease what subjects they were going to be discussing before noon, since they mentioned the UN report on exactly why these Somali fisherman have gone into piracy. I think it's the first time I've heard any mention of this report outside of the blogs (I saw it first at crooksandliars a few days ago).

If you haven't seen the story, apparently, after the government collapsed back in 1991, ships from other countries, specifically western Europe, have been not only poaching the fishing in their territorial waters, but even worse, they've been dumping barrels of nuclear waste. The children born in the coastal areas of Somalia have been increasingly born with malformed limbs, etc., and the fishing has been getting worse. Then, after the Christmas tsunami, the barrels have been brought to the surface and are floating ashore and more than 300 people have died of radiation poisoning so far.

Dead.AtYourAge.com

Congratulations! You've just outlived some interesting people. Tell us your date of birth, and we'll tell you who they were.

You've outlived Robert Louis Stevenson by two weeks. He was an author of "Treasure Island" (1883) and "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" (1886). He died of a stroke on December 3, 1894, 71 years before you were born.

Wow, guys. I used to wake up at 9 and get in at 10:30. Unless I went to the gym, then wake up at 6:45.

Yeah, I'm not saying when I wake up, because you'd make fun of me.

I do work at home, though.

I never realized that Big Bird is a baby chick: [link]

Speaking of those Somali pirates...

Kathy, that's heartbreaking.

If I had a choice, I wouldn't get up until 9 or later.

I CAN HAZ SILVER ROOF!!!

(Seriously, this is awesome because it makes so much of a difference in heating and cooling costs.)

A lot of the nuclear waste has actually been originating in Egypt, but the Egyptians apparently outsourced the disposal of said waste to the Italian mafia, who've been doing the dumping in Somali waters.

ETA: Here's the link to the crooksandliars story.

Komodo Dragons... They Eat Meat. A bunch of pictures and info.

So if you got bit by a radioactive Komodo dragon, would you have the superpower of being able to bite someone and give them an infection, which you then wait a few days for them to die?

Thanks to the puppy, who is my alarm clock now, I wake up between 5:30 and 6:30. Drink coffee, play/walk dogs/then work for two hours or so...sometimes watch the beginning of The View. Hop in shower. Get to the office around 11 or 11:30. I'm very lucky and I know it. The flexibility comes at a cost, though, since I'm often called at 2 in the morning for something pressing. And I wake up, log in and do it.