Happy Teacher's Day...

The California Nebula

...or NGC 1499, 100 light years long...

Charlie Taylor "Ain't No Hippy" SS Monkey: Silhouette Version

Watch the video

Charlie opens his '04 morning set... spring scream monkey kenting taiwan..

update: change of gov't in NB

Liberals end Tory rule...

vintage Miracle Saru...

Spring Scream 2000 footage of Miracle Saru, courtesy timogan at youtube...

...here too at a different angle...

more Miracle Saru...

This one from Karen Lee, spring scream '06

Miracle Saru Spring Scream Rooster

The Lost Spaceman has been listing his top ten favourite rock shows of all time... coming in at #4 was Miracle Saru in Kenting last April...

Here's the first little bit of their set...

The Tank is 90 this week

They first appeared at the Battle of the Somme, deployed by the British against the Germans as a 'mobile machine gun destroyer'... first code named 'mobile water tanks for Mesopotamia'... the name stuck, well 'tank' did anyway... 31 of the first 49 delivered to the trenches broke down... 2 broke through German lines all the way and the tank's usefulness was realized... the French and Germans were both soon developing their own...

new Dylan video - When the Deal Goes Down

I'm a Dylan fan and I am thrilled he's still making quality music after all these years... I love the way this vid looks... starring Scarlett Johanson...mmmm... summer days, lazy days... I gotta get back to Namerica next summer...

WTF?

If this is true it's the dumbest thing I've ever heard... well so far this week anyhow...

Irwin fans 'in revenge attacks' on stingrays...

I want to read this book...

A friend of Sandy's brought back the Sunday New York Times from the states last week and as I was reading the Book Reviews...

this one caught my eye, Severance by Robert Olen Butler... he 'imagines the last thoughts of the decapitated' throughout history... and what was really interesting is that he posits the head actually remains fully conscious for a full minute and a half after separation from the body... click the link to read the review I read... I like the part where his original title for the book was 'Talking Heads', but was discouraged by his publisher who deemed it in poor taste... I really want read this book... I feel an Amazon order coming on....

The only thing I've read from Butler is his collection of stories about Vietnam, which apparently won a Pulitizer, called Good Scent From a Strange Mountain... read it before my trip to Vietnam back in '02... good read...

Tungurahua follow up...

Tungurahua means 'throat of fire'... here's how the people from the area are coping with the destruction of their farms...

Always remove your CD player face...

We got robbed yesterday. Someone smashed the glass out of the passenger side door of my car, climbed over my son's car seat and ripped my CD player out. The car seat is worth more than the damn CD player but I guess whoever did this doesn't have kids... Nothing else was taken. Not even CDs... the car was parked right in front of my house too and may or may not have happened in broad daylight...can't be sure... I think it may be due to the fact that the city has had the street lights shut off in my neighbourhood for more than 2 weeks now, making it dark as all hell...hence the video camera at the end of the alley was also powerless... my neighbour introduced me to the neighbourhood LI ZHANG and he assured me this was being taken care of and he would inform the police... Sandy called the foreign affairs police on Wen Xin and they refused to help. Refused! Refused to connect her with the local precinct despite having a smashed car and a sleeping toddler in the house.. A pox on those assholes is what I say! Anyway, Sandy knows this great family mechanic and he came over immediately and replaced the window for only 1500 NT... pretty sweet... just when you hate all things Taiwanese, someone shows you how kind most Taiwanese can be....

If you have a car in Taichung, always remove the face of your cd player when parked.

Top Ten Most Dangerous Animals

I'm sure this list is highly debatable... Personally I'd divide it up into two lists, one for poisonous creatures and one for those that just eviscerate you... According to Live Science the top ten most deadly animals are...

10. Poison dart frog... neurotoxins, baby, neurotoxins! One frog has enough to kill 10 humans...

9. Cape Buffalo... 1500 pounds of stampeding terror..

8. Polar Bear... amazingly strong... will eat you...

7. African elephant... Bart Simpson called his pet elephant 'Stampy"....

6. Australian Saltwater Crocodile.... huge and nasty...will eat you...

5. African lion... master hunter...will eat you dead or alive...

4. Great White Shark... most feared of they sea creatures, well the most famous...will eat you...

3. Australian Box Jellyfish... 15 foot tentacles... 5,000 stinging cells... enough toxins to kill 60 humans...

2. Asian Cobra... highly poisonous...

1. the Mosquito... responsible for 2 million deaths a year... malaria is still a big problem, obviously...

All about Stingrays....

Stingray defense explained... Serrated and venomous tipped spear at the end of the tail...

R.I.P. Croc Hunter

I just found out about this. Steve Irwin dead at 44. Killed by stingray, barb through the heart... I feel bad about this for some reason...

The Matter of the Bullet Cluster

I just love this title... mapping dark matter

NB calling

I'm from New Brunswick and am considering moving my family home for spell...

I have a kid and another on the way...

Provincial election Sept. 18th...

NB expats say 'show me the money' to premier Bernard Lord... Yes!!!