Walking into the room knowing you are likely the oldest woman there would still take some loin girding.

Sunday night I was at a concert, and looking around from the balcony I realized I was the oldest person in the whole huge crowded room, with the possible exception of the silver-haired but spry guy down by the rail. He could have been a little older than me.

Let's hope McCaskill wins.

Sadly, McCaskill isn't exactly a great Democrat. But better her than Akin.

ION, I just had lunch at Le Cheval, which some of y'all might remember as the place we had dinner the night before the Zmayhem wedding. In the ensuing years, they lost their lease, downsized & moved into a much smaller space on the the corner of the same block, and then a few months ago sized back up and moved back into the original space. While keeping the small corner space as a noodle restaurant.

Wacky. But tasty!

It's like being in the crowd at that Warped Tour event with Billy Idol, with all the kids staring at me suspiciously. "Maybe she's somebody's mom." "Nah, she's here for Billy Idol." "Oh, yeah, right. You going to see him?" "Yeah, I ought to before he dies."

Pretty close to actual quotes.

Y'all should try being the black person at an Alice Cooper concert. Age don't matter.

I've been the only man in a lesbian bar a few times. But I was with a friend, and most lesbians in the bars assumed I was gay.

I've been the white person at a Brand Nubian concert.

I've been one of two white (big-haired deathrocker/metal) people at Public Enemy concert. That was an interesting date.

I've been the only human in a barn full of cows.

OK, that wasn't that exciting.

I've been the lone white guy in the audience at a screening of the Shaft remake. But it wasn't anything unusual; in Memphis I was generally in the minority except at hockey games.

ION, Researchers working on dilithium-powered fusion impulse engines

Hear that, Star Trek? Technology is catching up! The University of Alabama's Aerophysics Research Center, NASA, Boeing, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory are all getting together to develop an "impulse engine" that's powered in part by "dilithium crystals."

Here's how the scientists describe their own research:

"Star Trek fans love it, especially when we call the concept an impulse drive, which is what it is. The fusion fuel we're focusing on is deuterium [a stable isotope of hydrogen] and Li6 [a stable isotope of the metal lithium] in a crystal structure. That's basically dilithium crystals we're using."

We would be remiss, of course, if we didn't point out that in reality (that is, in Star Trek), dilithium is not quite the same as lithium-6 (which would be, uh, hexalithium?), and also, dilithium regulates the matter/antimatter reaction in the warp drive, not the impulse drive. So good, we've gotten all of our hrrumphing out of the way, let's move on.

Scientists are also working on a demo of a device to warp space-time, hopefully leading eventually to warp drive. We just need some transparent aluminium and we're set!