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*Happy 4th Birthday, Newt!*

(Link above goes to a pic of him from the first couple of days I had him at work... about Oct 21, 1999, I think)



Most recent shot of Newt to his B-day

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AVENGERS #71 - NOW RATED MATURE READERS
This morning, Marvel notified retailers that the next issue of Avengers, #71, originally due to be in stores next Wednesday will be delayed until October 15th, and its normal “PSR” rating changed to “MR” or Mature Readers due to adult content.( Read more... )

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Scientists have discovered fossils of the world's oldest genitals -- belonging to a 400 million-year-old arachnid -- in ancient rocks in Scotland. ( Read more... )

factoids / semagic jumps to 1.3.6.0U (after I just got 1.3.3.2 last night) / doing the wash

A new world record has been set by Jim Hager, 47, of Oakland, California. Jim ate 115 M & M Candies, using chopsticks, in 3 minutes. (that's pretty impressive.. but still seems beatable. I wonder how far the bowl has to be from your mouth?)

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Marcelo Torres, 22, was riding the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad when the roller coaster derailed inside a tunnel as it was climbing a steep grade. An "unknown, blunt object" caused "blunt force trauma" to his chest and fractured his ribs, leading to laceration of his lungs. Marcelo bled to death before help could arrive. Ten other passengers were injured.

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The animal most often hallucinated by someone experiencing drug withdrawal (including alcohol) is a black or gray dog.

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Dendrophilia is sex with trees.

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Bees are more likely to sting on windy days.

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The newest semagic client allows you to download your journal to disk and search it, comfortably. I just finished dumping all 6100+ entries and (comment grabs are currently disabled) to my hard drive. That'll teach me to download the prior update the night before. They're going to use a built-in spell checker rather than word's soon, too.

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D&D monster of the moment... in perhaps more in honor of Blackie than of Newt's Birthday, a Displacer beast. Newt's more of an anti-displacer beast, considering that he's generally when I look for him, and easily petted. He does attack well with his teeth and front strikers, though for no appreciable damage.

The displacer beast is a savage and stealthy carnivore that resembles a puma with six legs, glowing green eyes, and two muscular tentacles growing from its shoulders.

A displacer beast has luxurious, blue-black fur and a long, feline body and head. It is the size of a Bengal tiger, about 10 feet long and weighing about 500 pounds. The tentacles end in pads equipped with horny ridges.

Displacer beasts favor small game but will eat anything they can catch. They regard all other creatures as prey and tend to attack anything they meet. They have a deep-seated hatred for blink dogs, and the two attack each other ruthlessly when their paths cross.

Displacer beasts rake opponents with their tentacles and bite foes that get close.

Displacement (Su): A light-bending glamour continually surrounds a displacer beast, making it difficult to surmise the creature's true location. Any melee or ranged attack directed at it has a 50% miss chance unless the attacker can locate the beast by some means other than site. A true seeing affect allows the user to see the beast's position, but see invisibility has no effect.

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Ok. Off to do my laundry. Until later, dear journal.

back home, misc linkie-doodles, and gross overuse of the hr tag.

Ahh. Lovely. Laundry done, Newt happily doing doughnuts on the fresh, warm, taut sheets on the bed, and I've got supper in the oven a-cookin'. I need to go back, and update my daily eats entries when I'm not feeling so lazy.

The 'mat was a fine place for me to finish writing a nice long letter to my brother... i was surprised to see that my letter containing magneto returned to me, for insufficient postage. it was launched 10/1, so the circuit was a little slow, considering the distance traveled wasn't too far. If I was *smart* I'd have put his address as the return addy, too. I don't know if that old trick still works.

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Ugh... Rick Sanchez is back. I'll be boycotting any channel that has him on it. He ran over a guy while driving drunk, and paralyzed the person... not to mention the whole Elian / 9-11 nightmare / wsvn tabloid TV deal. He is, to my mind, the epitome of what's wrong with "news" today.

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Speaking of loopy news and striped cats, hatless mentions More Tigers in the News

Emboldened, perhaps, by the one that landed Roy of "Siegfried and.." fame in the hospital, tigers are on the attack in America's cities. The New York Times checks in with this dispatch from the Bronx:

What the tiger, along with a four- to five-foot reptile called a caiman, was doing inside a cluttered apartment in the Drew Hamilton Houses at Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard and 141st Street remained a mystery yesterday.

In a news conference at the scene, Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said the police became involved in the case on Wednesday when the apartment's resident, Antoine Yates, called to say he had been bitten by a pit bull...

Getting to the tiger, a male, was no simple task. From an apartment on the fourth floor, the police first eased a pole-mounted camera out the window to keep track of him. Meanwhile, on the seventh floor, they prepared a team to rappel down so they would have a clearer view when firing tranquilizer darts to subdue him.

And so continues America's drift into the Third World.

( Continue reading  )

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Help save the Tree Octopus from extinction!

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Atlas of the DC universe - Now you can tell where Gotham and Metropolis really are!

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Marvel Directory - Welcome to the Marvel Directory, here I am hoping to gather the biggest database that there is on the web. The database will be designed just like the comic book series "The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe." I have the support of the Marvel Fan Site program, this allows me to bring you graphics and Marvel material that they provide and support.

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Police offer these helpful tips for those who would engage in the crime of identity theft: First, try very hard not to steal the identity of someone who is a convicted sex offender.

Second, if having stolen and then assumed the identity of someone who turns out to be a sex offender, try very hard thereafter to refrain from domestic disputes that might result in your arrest for disorderly conduct.( Read more... )

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Underwater Vehicle with Muscle Drive - a unique underwater apparatus which is safe, reliable and convenient during operation, which is capable of providing appropriate comfortable conditions of habitation, and allows an unprepared person to undertake an independent underwater voyage without specific risks for him.

An approximate retail price of the UA - 19,000 US dollars. I will really be tempted if this thing ever gets released.

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Jack Johnson. His music is 95% acoustic, kind of folksy, and with a hint of Jimmy Buffet. Song samples, videos, and several full-length, live songs. The server seems wonky, but it's worth it when open. I'd heard initially that bubble toes was a sad song, topically, but that turned out to be a rumor. Instead, it's a happy, sweet song that makes me smile.

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Victorian Flower Fairy - Mouse Taxidermy
Poor mousie... I hope it had a nice life before being stuffed. Beats being snake food, I imagine.