Random thoughts

-The Feds have slashed Boston's anti-terror funding by a third for the coming year. That makes sense- after all, only two of the four 9-11 planes came from here, and we wouldn't want to deprive potential terrorist targets like, oh, Dubuque, of their fair share. Especially since they vote Republican and we don't and it's an election year. Oh yeah- two other low-risk Democratic cities, New York and Washington, also saw their funding slashed.

-One of the cats (Pyewackett) is currently sitting on a $2500 19th century pamphlet. The problem with removing her is that she will then come back and sit between me and the computer screen. Life is all about decisions.

-Scientists have recently discovered that temperatures in the Arctic were about 74 degrees 55 million years ago, and that the reason was a gigantic burst of "greenhouse gases" into the atmosphere. Hell, I'd take one of those "ice cruises" if it were 74 degrees up there. The fudsy-dudsy scientists are all worried about the fact that this may show just how dramatically greenhouse gases can affect the climate, and how hot it can get. Well phooey. The Beloved Leader says Global Warming is a good thing; who needs to know more? I'm buying more beach chairs.

-They say Microsoft is thinking about buying Ebay. Great. Evil Empire meets Moral Vacuity. The combined company will be called ME-bay.

-Speaking of Evil... (some) people are all aflutter over an upcoming date- 6-6-6, which happens this coming Tuesday. I was reading a story about this on the web, and the author pointed out that recent archeological work has discovered that the Number of the Beast may not be 666, but 616. Damned transcription errors. That also means that if you see a guy with horns walking around today spreading death, chaos and destruction, for just this once it may not be George Bush...

-Today is the start of the 2006 Hurricane season. I don't know about the rest of you, but my main concern is that we've got good names this year. This year's names are Alberto, Beryl, Chris, Debby, Ernesto, Florence, Gordon, Helene, Isaac, Joyce, Kirk, Leslie, Michael, Nadine, Oscar, Patty, Rafael, Sandy, Tony, Valerie, William.

I dunno about you, but those names strike me as a 70s flashback- Chris (Evert); Debby (Gibson -ok, not 70s, but work with me here); Florence (Henderson); Gordon (Jump); Helen[e] (Reddy); Isaac (Hays); (Captain) Kirk; Leslie (Neilson); Michael (Douglas); Oscar (of the Odd Couple); Patty (LaBelle); Sandy (Duncan); Tony (Randall); Valerie (Bertinelli); William (Shatner).

The Odd Couple and Star Trek tie, with 2 each.

I may need more coffee...

Here's a great page with info about Hurricanes.