I will put it after the jump so as not to spoil it for you Tivo viewers. more...

Posted by: Kathy at 09:39 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Just damn.

Posted by: Kathy at 09:20 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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If he wasn't one serious fussbudget.

Posted by: Kathy at 09:06 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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You all remember James, right? Well, his Mom---Christi---has a something she'd a like to say to you all.

Hi,

This is Christi (the Cake Eater sister), mom of James. We are finally getting our act together and thanking all of those out there in the blogosphere for helping us out this summer in trying to find a cure for Type I Diabetes. Many of you helped us not only reach, but surpass our goal of $4000. James' Jaywalkers in Omaha was able to raise $4400 this year! We have you to thank for that.

It is always amazing to us how generous our friends and family are when we send out our walk letter. But we are even more amazed when people we don't know are compelled to help us out, too. We so appreciate the sacrifice.

We had a fabulous time at the Diabetes Walk this year. We had wonderful weather (and that is rare in August in Nebraska). The kids had a ton of fun. And best of all, James had the feeling that he is not alone in this battle. He has so much support, from people he knows and people he doesn't know.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!
Christi and James

She also passed along a photo of all those who walked that day, so you, my devoted Cake Eater Readers, could get the whole Walk to Cure Diabetes experience.

I will add my thanks to hers. You are a great group of people!

Posted by: Kathy at 04:05 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Clicket on the image for a bigger, easier on the eyes size.

Cartoon by the brilliant Scott Kurtz of PvP Online.

Posted by: Kathy at 10:38 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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As in the Netherlands will shortly cease to exist if this sort of thing is a governmental priority over, you know, beating down homegrown Islamofascists.

Posted by: Kathy at 11:04 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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At the back of every issue of Forbes is a collection of quotes on a certain topic. This week's topic is grammar. I thought I'd share a few because they're amusing.

Cut out all these exclamation points. An exclamation point is like laughing at your own joke.

---F. Scott Fitzgerald

Commas in The New Yorker fall with the precision of knives in a circus act, outlining the victim.

---E.B. White

You can be a little ungrammatical if you come from the right part of the country.

---Robert Frost

Bad spellers of the world, untie!

---Graffito

Save the gerund and screw the whale.

---Tom Stoppard

Waiting for the German verb is surely the ultimate thrill.

---Flann O'Brien

The adjective is the banana peel of the parts of speech.

---Clifton Fadiman

I am the King of Rome, and above grammar.

---Emperor Sigismund

To be loose with grammar is to be loose with the worst woman in the world.

---Otis C. Edwards

I never made a mistake in grammar but one in my life and as soon as I done it I seen it.

---Carl Sandburg

Posted by: Kathy at 10:21 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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No new House episodes until November!

Damn you, Major League Baseball! Damn you to hell and back!

Yeah, I know I'll get wrapped up in the playoffs like everyone else, but damn. I just got House back and now...just like that...poof. He's gone.

Which leads us to the obvious conclusion: House is Keyser Soze.

Just try and tell me otherwise.

Posted by: Kathy at 10:22 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Just go and read already.

{h/t: Doug}

Posted by: Kathy at 10:22 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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{Insert snort of glee here}

Posted by: Kathy at 09:33 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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A request from Chrissy:

My mom and my best friend's (Susan's) mom are in DeRidder, Louisiana, a small town just above Lake Charles.

I have confirmed with the local electric company they will be out of power for two to three weeks.

Cameron and Lake Charles have been laid to waste.

I'm told by people there that DeRidder looks like a war zone.

My mom is freaking out a bit. While she has weathered many storms, none have come this close or caused this much damage. Then, there's that thing about being alone without my father (he died in December) standing over her to tell her what to do.

Susan's sister also lives in DeRidder and her house took a tree through the roof. Her mom took a tree to a shed.

Susan and I have been networking trying to figure out the next step. We need to get both of our moms out of the area until the power comes back on. There's still major power outages and gas shortages from Houston to Lafayette with roads also being closed through Houston, Beaumont, and Lake Charles.

If Susan's uncle from Tyler, a police officer, is not able to get enough gas to them in the next day or so, I will put together a truck with enough extra gas cans to take to the back roads to head that way. Both my mom's vehicles have gas we can syphon once I get there.

If anyone is between Houston and Lake Charles, please speak up and let me know what the gas situation is where you are.

If you have any information, go throw said information into the comments over at Fistful of Fortnights.

Posted by: Kathy at 10:54 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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A politician who kept an election promise!

Posted by: Kathy at 11:12 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I do believe I mentioned that one of the Cake Eater brothers, Stephen, was in town the other night. Steve is the car dealer and when he got stuck here he was returning from getting his first look at his dealership in New Orleans. He was one of the business owners who was allowed to come back into town earlier in the week, to see what the situation was. Well, it wasn't pretty, to say the least. The dealership is, to put it bluntly, wrecked. If it wasn't nailed down, it was either picked up and thrown around due to the storm or someone tried to steal it. Any computers or electronics that didn't get flooded were looted. Cars were stolen, and in one memorable instance an air compressor was ripped off the little red wagon it had called home. If it was nailed down, well, then it was flooded with that murky concoction---and it was five feet deep. I saw the photos he took for insurance purposes and, well, yuck covers it quite well. Not only was all the office furniture, paneling, drywall, wallpaper---and fax machines, copiers, etc. covered in that muck, think about what a service bay at your car dealership looks like and then think of those big canisters of motor oil and anti-freeze and the like---and then imagine them turned over and leaking goo everywhere. I could go on, but I think you get the gist. It's just a mess and a half.

Steve was very tired when he got here, and he was a wee bit dazed, but he had a lot to say about what it was like in New Orleans, how surreal it all was, etc. Yet he neglected to mention that he'd hooked up with a reporter from the Billings Gazette who did a story on the death and dismemberment of the dealership due to Katrina. He never mentioned it, but that stands to reason: he's got bigger fish to fry right now.

I'm just glad I didn't know his GM was packing during their trip. Sheesh.

Posted by: Kathy at 11:22 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Fausta does it once again by attending a lecture given by Elie Weisel and reporting on it.

Posted by: Kathy at 11:16 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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and Leonardo DaVinci had some insiders knowledge as to what Mary Magdalene actually looked like, then I think we can safely declare Jesus Christ to have been a breast man.

Posted by: Kathy at 10:05 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Just you wait until the Maximum Leader gets done.

Posted by: Kathy at 11:34 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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The season premiere of Nip/Tuck is on F/X tonight.

I love this show. It's so twisted and---what's the word I'm looking for here?---perverted. It's like watching a car wreck where the reason for the wreck is that people are getting it on in the car and aren't paying attention to their driving. It's just fun. If you haven't seen it, or have avoided it, you don't know what you're missing.

I also watch it because Kelly Carlson, who plays Kimber, was one of my regulars at the Bou, way back in the day, and I like to support her efforts because she's a good person. And I really mean that: she's a good person in real life. Not only did she give me a birthday card one year (would you do that for your barista?) and brought pictures in to share with me from when she snuck a camera into the Grammys (she knew one of the Barenakedladies and was his date that year), she got down on her hands and knees to help me once. One of the facets on my wedding ring came loose because I'd banged it on something and, as a result, one of the diamonds fell out. She was there at the time I noticed it and came around the corner, gave me a hug and told me to stop crying, and then she helped me look for it. She's a good person. She deserves success not just because she's willing to play Kimber.

And, of course, because I know some of you are a curious lot, yes, she is gorgeous in real life. Every single teenage boy I had working at the store was head over heels in love with her and, quite literally, fought with each other to wait on her. Kelly was embarrassed. I thought it was funny and teased her about it. She's come a long way from working at the MAC counter at the Southdale Daytons. Here's hoping she goes even further.

Posted by: Kathy at 06:13 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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1 I've never seen it. When it first started, we didn't get the channel it was on. We do now. Is it something I'm going to get if I come into it two? seasons late? Is it gory? For some reason I am under that impression. Ithy no like gore!

Posted by: Ith at September 20, 2005 06:50 PM (LCvAk)

2 I haven't seen it I may have to check it out. As a side note, I though you'd type Kelly Clarkson and well lets just say I was a tad bit shocked and appalled to say the least.

Posted by: phin at September 20, 2005 09:19 PM (DGPlf)

3 This show is a total guilty pleasure. And I have to say, this episode is hard to watch.

Posted by: Slublog at September 20, 2005 09:57 PM (Krjc2)

4 I have a secret crush on Christian. He's SO F'N BAAAAD. And there's almost nil in the way of "redeeming qualities." Heh. Plus, I will always and forever love me some Liz (Roma). She rawks.

Posted by: Margi at September 23, 2005 09:37 AM (nwEQH)

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Preggers. With pictures!

They're registered, too. You can find it here.

And don't give me any guff about posting the link to the registry, either.

You looked at the kid's ultrasound. You made that "awwwwwww" noise and went all gooey. You are now obliged to go and buy the kid stuff.

Now, shoo.

Posted by: Kathy at 11:34 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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1 [heart] You are the best!

Posted by: Stigmata at September 20, 2005 11:55 AM (ddzYA)

2 I swear, their due date is almost exactly the same as mine. Too cool. Looooovvveeeeed the sonogram pictures. Those are the best! And, just as soon as I can afford my own layette, I'll get busy with theirs! (Hey! It's just like I'm having my first child allllll over again. Heh.)

Posted by: Margi at September 20, 2005 01:05 PM (nwEQH)

3 Congrats!

Posted by: Night Writer at September 22, 2005 07:59 PM (yZXR2)

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...could, conceivably, get you into trouble.

{...}Sounds from typing on computer keyboards are distinctive enough to be decoded, allowing security breaches caused by "acoustic snooping," University of California, Berkeley researchers said on Wednesday.

The researchers said they were able to feed sound recordings of typing on keyboards into a computer and use an algorithm to recover up to 96 percent of the keyboard characters entered by typists.

"It's a form of acoustical spying that should raise red flags among computer security and privacy experts," said Doug Tygar, a Berkeley professor of computer science and information management.

"If we were able to figure this out, it's likely that people with less honorable intentions can -- or have -- as well," Tygar said.{...}

96% of recovered keystrokes isn't all that impressive, however, when you take into account the odds of recovering the missing four percent. After all, you need a password in its entirety---96% of it isn't going to magically open anything. While I will admit it's easier for a hacker to brute force the remaining keystrokes, you'd still have to know precisely what you were doing to get anything.

No, I'm not worried about this. I think this is a much more dazzling weakness as far as computer security is concerned.

{HT: Jonathan}

Posted by: Kathy at 10:12 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Smallholder v. Phoenix.

I've been on the fringes of agriculture all my life, living where I do. I can see both sides of this story, so I don't know who wins this argument. I'm loathe to subsidize Archer-Daniels-Midland and Monsanto, and on the whole I don't think subsidies help anyone in the long run, but I can see where Phoenix does have a point.

Posted by: Kathy at 01:51 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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