Scotto's Wall Scrawls

Chinese dinner tonight with BHK, and the In-laws. We watched Definitely, Maybe, and I thought it wasn't bad at all for a "chick flick." Good amount of schmaltz, not a bad vehicle for a slice of life info. I still think he's a swine, re: the book... he had postcards and whatnot.

Next on our netflix list - Machine Girl. Hopefully, BHK will enjoy that as much as I enjoyed tonight's feature.

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Pointless Scotto trivia of the moment - animal crackers eaten today, roughly in the order consumed.

whole -

• gorilla
• hippo x 2
• seal
• monkey
• tiger
• polar bear x 3
• horse
• lion
• rhino
• zebra
• koala 2
• sheep 2
• kangaroo
• camel

partials -

• 3-legged tiger
• tailless kangaroo
• headless lion

amazing number of intact critters in my barnum box. (60g) Sadly, no elephants. I've been to the circus, and always seen ellies - can't say the same about koalas or polar bears, though they are both adorable and cool, too.

Come to think of it, I've never seen a hippo or rhino at the circus, either. Or a gorilla. (well, maybe a clown in a gorilla suit) What are they trying to pull??

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4th of July ATW man - note his pop-eyes, manic grin, and huge firecracker.
seen on the way home after Journey 3-d last night

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Today's harvest - Looks like beans for dinner tomorrow!

also shown, first tomato of the season, cukes, eggplant, and a sneaky, slimy okra.

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1 year ago - cyn's house, ATW man pics as a pirate, (first mention of atw man), salmagundia, Mr. Tawky Tawny kills a man with a sitck, recently listened tracks, bierce, famous poems rewritten as limericks, amy arrives

2 years ago - this will be our year (it still makes me cry every time I hear it), ring wearing, flemish ( The TRUTH About "Belgium" - The New World Order's Belgian Conspiracy) , cat's got knees / I like your pants, rust monster, underground city, lake okeechobee, ninja turtles /zoom, good sleeps,

3 years ago - GrayP, Allergy results, Candice gives me her number, google hybrid, love song / mind control

4 years ago - I Robot, The Flo, LiveJournal Gallery, 1000 white cards revisited

5 years ago - Evil Fish, Bro, Brace, bazillion questions meme, crow tools, Elton Ock, LJ pings for you

6 years ago - Janet Reno, 1000 blank white cards, lost links, Dumpster Diving,singing kitty, palm sketches, snickitty-snackitty man, managing activism

7 years ago - melted heart, epizootic, hair bears, playing majestic

8 years ago - bedtime thoughts

working streaming music for wii - http://www.finetune.com (or better - http://www.finetune.com/wii/aboutwii.html )

We broke down and got the internet channel for the wii last night - looks good! Already bookmarked some news sites, newtcam and lj. it reads pretty well, especially in single column mode. unfortunately, pandora doesn't stream audio to the tv, but youtube works well. I'm going got try to locate some good streaming audio sites that aren't too memory intensive and use flash or java rather than a proprietary system... maybe live365? Next to try is surfing to an mp3 to play it.

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The autumn leaves are really starting to pop... on our way this morning to work, BHK and I decided that we're going to have to go on a photo-mission sometime this weekend.

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Brought Doughnuts into the office via Dunkin's - they seemed to go over well. I'm glad it's friday and the weekend has begun!

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LONDON (Reuters) - Elephants can literally smell danger, according to a study on Thursday that shows the animals can sniff out whether humans are friends or foes. ( Read more... ) The study in Kenya found elephants detected both the scents and colors of garments worn by Masai tribesman who often come into conflict with the animals when herding cattle.

When detecting the scent of a Masai, the elephants turned up their trunks to orient themselves to the smell and then stampeded away until they reached cover in the tall grass.

"The degree with which the elephants are able to classify people hasn't been shown before in any animal," said Lucy Bates, a cognitive psychologist at the University of St. Andrews, who worked on the study published in Current Biology.

Working with the Amboseli Elephant Research Project in southern Kenya, the researchers presented the animals with clean clothing and material worn by either a Masai or Kamba tribesman.

They did not stampede when sniffing either clean clothes or those worn by Kamba tribesmen, farmers who pose little threat to the animals, Bates said.

"The reactions between the Masai and the Kamba were so different," Bates said in a telephone interview. "They weren't reacting as if it was the same predator."

To test their reactions further, the researchers presented the elephants with red material, the same color as the Masai's traditional costume, and plain white clothing.

When the animals spied red, they stamped their feet and shook their heads in an aggressive manner while the color white failed to spark such aggressive behavior, Bates said.

"The reaction with the Masai clothes was very intense," Bates said.

The findings could boost conservation efforts in Kenya focused on keeping people and pachyderms apart, Bates said.

The researchers suspect elephants across Africa are just as perceptive. "Elephants would likely have the same ability to make these discriminations across Africa but it would be for different groups," Bates said.

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BHK made evil twin Miis for us to play with... mine is a better pool player than I am - nearly cleared the table first time I used him. BHK's doppelganger has a sinister smirk, and mine has a gruff, dour face. Also, there are Newton and Pyewacket miis. I like that other miis are visiting our system... but want more! She also made a jack-o-lantern guy, and "turtle head".

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Internet was out this morning - can't leech off of the neighbors wifi, as they have comcast too... at least we know that it isn't just us! Thankfully, it came back at about 10am.

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note to self - grab a copy of "sister rosetta goes before us - robert plant and allison krauss" could be keen.

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other note to self - pack tasty lunch for picnic photo-day tomorrow... and get allergy shots am!

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1 year ago - selfport, 6 facts, presidential poop, Great Sandwich, felon voting ban, child abduction

2 years ago - Who was ST?, dating in the workplace, hurricane Wilma cat 5, I'm a humanist, Scotto-Spock eyebrow, Newt caught on cam & 80's tv references, general quiz, Yabba dabba doom? Fuggedaboutit

3 years ago - non-troll text, Graypumpkin gets me interested in Lost, fruit pies,fridge magnet-collaborative, cemetery prairie dogs, bro evicted

4 years ago - unusual case, Roger Bumpass, Carnival Strippers, Swedish Chef, LARGE MARGE!, Elephants, Death Factoids, pootering

5 years ago - Newt Palm art, got Zombies!, NOLF2 is great.

6 years ago - budgeting, happy thoughts, street names, Kev, nice chatties

7 years ago - Dark out, sex factoids, black and blue

Okay, last batch form the Saturday walkabout. I won't be doing much this coming weekend, because I'm on call both days. I'll settle for playing with Newtie, and watching my New DVDs that came in just last night (If I can wait that long)! Thank you again Oneyed, Sedef, and Granny! I fell strongly that my Plastic Man Archives will make it to me by then, too! Ah, comfort is truly giant monsters, plastic man, newton kitty, and spending the weekend in my jammies.

From the outside area of the swap shop - The Fairgrounds -

( do ya wanna go fast-aa? )

Hooray for the spider/octopus thing! There's something about being run in a circle that people love... I wonder if that's why nascar is so popular, rather than the seething desire to see a car crash while drinking beer. You can see the remnants of the storm that drove me from gravesitting in the background.

( Kee-rash! )

Bumper cars! I always thought of them as hovercrafts or something, because the rubber extended to cover up the wheels. Just one step from flying off into space. No Electrically charged roof keeping them running, they're all electric, and unconnected to any central circuit. I miss the showers of sparks that'd come from the sky as I drove my bumper cars headlong into other kid's vehicles.

( Cute little Dragon )

Dragon in a cape-mobile. He looks like he knows something and isn't going to tell unless you tickle him.

( Indians w/Cannon )

Native American manikins and cannon by the flume ride. The rest was pirate-themed... I think these guys were lost.

( Pirate Cannon )

Red Dog the Pirate-guy working a cannon of his own. I've seen a lot of folks on the beach that don't look much different than him.

( Ice Cream! )

Vague self-portrait in the ice cream novelties window reflection. I had a Hulk bar... I never expected the hulk to taste like fruit punch... I was hoping for lime, him being green and all. The Bubble gum eyes went unchewed, spit into a nearby trash can without a second thought. I was surprised that they didn't sell Mickey Mouse bars.(one of my favorites in high school.) This image also debunks the myth that I don't cast a reflection in the swamplands to the West... or maybe I wasn't far West enough.

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Indoor Circus -

( Control Panel )

The control panel for the circus stage. I wonder how often someone's tried to make off with stuff, out in the open like that? (or at least flicked around with the switches?)

( Bike ball )

Steel sphere for motorcycle daredevils. Interesting that one of the bikers was also a rope-girl and hula hoop master. She must train *a lot*. Does that sphere have any other use, than a track? it seems sort of a large item for an indoor circus to have. Maybe they put props in it like a toybox when they pack up.

( Rope Girls1 )

The best part of the show... the three showgirls/acrobats were amazing. they did stuff that'd have most anyone else broken, bruised, and tossing up breakfast.

( Rope Girls2 )

Whipping around in a circle... if I do that just at sea level I get giddy and dizzy. I bet most of the kids in the audience go home and try to replicate that part. spinning is a wonderful thing... another universal kid constant, I think.

( Rope Girls3 )

I was impressed at how rapidly they snaked up the ropes, too. Very graceful, and certainly competent. Parts of the act went from flexibility and balance to basic pole dancing (only about 24 feet up.) I assume that the girls have vaguely Russian accents, and are actually leftover sleeper agents for when the Soviet Union rises again, after we take care of the little countries that are just a hassle for them to deal with. The one all the way on the right would make a pretty good Natalia Alianovna Romanova

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I wonder if that "Blue Collar Comedy" now gives non-English speakers the same amusement that Univision generally gives me? (And I wonder if Univision makes many Spanish people shake their heads in shame, like that show does to me?)

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Random Newtcam Pic: A bit fuzzy.

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Gallery of Harlequin paperback covers from the '50s (Much cooler than the ones I shelved while working as a page at BBCL). I dig LADY, THAT'S MY SKULL. (thanks, Joy, for finding that, and the game of dots!)

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Handy-dandy Phrases

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Archives -

1 year ago - watching walnut & his mamma on cam, goofy snl, she spies (synchronicity!)

2 years ago - Wreck of the Medusa, Feral, Muso, my trading card, LJ meet, taught Dave Heroclix, misc pix, ft laud sunset,

3 years ago- yellow bellies

4 years ago - questions

Superb article on Halloween's Origins.

Of all today's holidays, Halloween seems like the most primeval. Its bats, witches, spooks, skeletons and monsters surely indicate roots reaching back before the dawn of science and Christianity; the whiff of prehistoric campfires clings to its sable robes. Well, guess again. ( Read more... )

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The secret elephant, a cartographical bestiary part of the British Library's exhibit, the Secret Life of Maps.

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Eating my demons #1 Bake an Apple Demon with Goat Cheese and Blackberry Compote

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Aw... I don't watch Star Trek:Enterprise... and so I missed the episode with Undead Romero Zombies. Vulcan Zombies with Phasers. Well, if it comes back, I'll make an exception to not watching the poorly written and acted show to see that.

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