Seriously, when I was in SF, Hec was teaching me about Tom Waits and Swordfishtrombones and these like, curio box type things and it led to a strange way that I listen to music now.

Really? Well, Cornell boxes are a good way to view a lot of things. (They're a key plot point in Wm. Gibson's Count Zero too.)

Incidentally, I saw the Cornell show in SF with our own Joe Boucher.

Olivia's friend's mom has gone around the bend. She is the one who is turning a fairly common toddler event into a Traumatic Scarring Thing.

Yes. It may make you change your answer.

You should remind me of that at some point.

Thanks, Perkins.

What's the weather like up there? Still dumping down here. I'm really hoping it quits soon. I might have an umbrella, but I can never remember to have it handy.

My sister just saw her first Petrellicest video. She sent me an email in confusion wondering what relation the guys were--she knew it was something that made it wrong, but she really couldn't work out why they'd possibly be touching so much. Brothers both explained it and didn't make it better.

A couple of thoughts as I checked out what you guys talked about while I was sleeping:

1. Sloths are really quite cool. I like the whole "don't get eaten by an eagle" mission statement thing. Of course, the primary reason they're so slothful is that they live on leaves, which are not nutritious. Curioiusly, "don't get eaten by a jaguar" doesn't seem to be as highly prioritised. Even if they defecate only once a week, why climb all the way down to the ground for it? Why not just let gravity do the work? That's pretty much their most vulnerable moment.

2. Emigrating to New Zealand: one thing to note is that Australia and New Zealand have reciprocal arrangements which make it very easy to move from one to the other. (Not surprisingly, the number of Aussies moving to NZ is far outweighed by the number of Kiwis coming to Oz. There are currently over 400,000 Kiwis in Australia, i.e. about 10% of their total population. There are about 40,000 Australians living in NZ.) So, if you really want to move to New Zealand, try coming to Australia first and taking out citizenship.

Note too, although NZ may have restrictive rules governing immigration, it (like Australia) is a relatively high-immigration country proportional to their population. Around 20% of New Zealand residents were born overseas, compared to 24% for Australia and around 10% for the US.

bt, what's with your country's colour sense? Why are the ballgirls and boys at the Open wearing pepto abysmal pink?

What's the weather like up there?

totally gross. We didn't even get any neat lightening storms today.

bt, what's with your country's colour sense? Why are the ballgirls and boys at the Open wearing pepto abysmal pink?

I can only assume it's to try to make the players' fashion choices look more acceptable.

Incidentally, this is the first Oz Open in yonks that I recall being played in bearable weather. It's a warm one today, but they've mostly been getting termperatures in the 20s. Forecasts for the next week are also in the 20s, except Australia Day.

She also quoted an anonymous stylist as saying, "You don't put a big girl in a big dress. That's rule number one."

Asshat. She's got a stunning figure.

I agree, Cass, she has a stunning figure. And she's gorgeous. I don't think she's big but I think she's bigger than the LA lollipop and the dress was a lot of dress that really did her curviness no favors. Too tight (titscrepency!) in the bodice and the flounce that went from hip to other thigh was just Not Good on a stick, let alone a woman with curves. It's a big dress in there was a lot going on with the dress and the bigness of the dress detracted from the pretty of the woman.

But I'm not a stylist.

Who wants to help with Emmett's homework?

It's puns and the periodic table.

For example:

Clue: A person from Troy who only goes out at dark.

Answer: Nitrogen.

The puns are not always exact, so use a loose standard.

We've got four left.

1. Motto for an oil well drilling company.

2. Grab that guy!

3. What do you do before you brand a steer?

4. Boards that have been nailed down to walk upon.

List of Elements in Periodic table.

I can only assume it's to try to make the players' fashion choices look more acceptable.

It matches Nadal, which I feel reflects poorly on him. It contrasts almost perfectly with Federer who I'm watching right now, as if coordinated.