The existence of Idao is a hoax!

That’s right. There is no State of Idaho, and the nation’s cartographers have been playing a cruel joke on us. The evidence is astounding. Beginning with:

“Do you know anybody from Idaho? Do you know anybody who knows anybody from Idaho? According to the 1990 “census,” there are over one million (1,000,000, or 1 x 10^6) people living in Idaho. But if there are so many Idahoers, where are they? ”

You might be tempted to answer, “Idaho!” But that’s because you’ve been brainwashed.

Last weekend I joined several StlBloggers for bowling at Tropicana. To put it simply, while I had a fun, enjoyable time, and I enjoyed meeting several of them for the first time, I played very sloppily.

This weekend I joined several friends I’ve known for over ten years at Olivette, and for whom I have no need to make a good first impression, and I bowled on the high end of my ‘average’. My evidence, the scoresheet, is below with the other names/initials erased to protect their anonymity.

(Numerologically there isn’t much to point out of note. One multiple of 18 in the second game – the 4th frame.)

Some readers may wonder why I am ‘bragging’ that the high end of my average is in the 80s and 90s. Well, it is significantly better than how I bowled at Tropicana. And the fact that I am able to get 3 strikes in 2 games might surprise a few of those I met last weekend.

I made the comment to one of my fellow bowlers last night that “if I actually took some lessons, and learned what I was doing, I could be dangerous.”

Obviously my problem last weekend had to have been the bowling alley. I’ll never bowl at Tropicana again.

The Internet Movie Database has an entire section devoted to Sundance. Below is a link to a ‘Portrait’ taken on January 24th.

Sundance Film Festival 2005 – Day 4

I’ve been having some fun this evening installing some more plugins. One of the more obvious ones is the “DropCap” plugin. The first character of every entry is now in Chaucer font, font-size 36. If I went to the trouble of creating an image for each letter of the alphabet, I could use those images, rather than rely on a standard font. That’s something I might do in the future. (Or maybe see if one of my more artisitic friends would be interested in designing one for me.)

I’ve also installed a text-filter, as you probably can tell from this post. I can choose between Swedish Chef, Valley Girl, Cockney, Hunting Wabbits, Jive, German Accent, and Texas Drawl. I’ve decided to try out Cockney.

Unfortunately, the plugin doesn’t add the same options to the comments section.

A man parks his SUV on a train track…as a means of suicide.
At the last minute, he has second thoughts, and exits the vehicle.
But the train crashes against the empty SUV and passengers die.

The State of California is considering punishing the individual with…execution.

Since this was originally a suicide attempt…wouldn’t a better punishment be forcing him to live?

Three conservative columnists have now confessed to being paid by Bush to promote his programs. However, what I found most incredible:

HHS had paid syndicated columnist and marriage advocate Maggie Gallagher $21,000 to write brochures and essays and to brief government employees on the president’s marriage initiative. Gallagher later wrote in her column that she would have revealed the $21,000 payment to readers had she recalled receiving it.

Hereís the direct quote from her column:

But the real truth is that it never occurred to me. On reflection, I think Howard is right. I should have disclosed a government contract when I later wrote about the Bush marriage initiative. I would have, if I had remembered it. My apologies to my readers.

To get paid $21,000 for a job, and a couple years later forget that it happened…I hope someday I’m earning enough for that to happen.

I installed a “WayBack Machine” plugin to the left. (No trademark infringement intended.) It should link to posts “on this date” in previous years. On February 4th, we’ll see if it links to both 2003 and 2004.

Browsing around January 2004 posts, I noticed this comment on a legal row between Disney and the owners of the character, Winnie the Pooh. Apparently, a trial was set for January of 2005. I thought to myself…”Wait, that’s now!”

So I did a news search and discovered, Disney has won the latest round (crap), but the battle continues.

(My loyalties are somewhat torn. AA Milne’s Granddaughter is trying to get back the rights from the Slesingers, the family her grandfather sold the rights to in the 1930s. Disney sides with her, but only because the Slesingers have sued Disney over lost royalties.)

You’ll notice even though I serendipitously noticed my year-old entry tonight, the current news article is dated today.

I like Aish — as a resource for information on all things Jewish.

And now they’re giving away an IPod monthly.
(I’m not sure if this is a lunar month or a solar month.)

All they require is a name and email address.
Those who register are subscribed to their weekly emails, and must remain subscribed for at least 60 days. But comparing the cost of receiving a weekly email (reading it isn’t required), to the magazine subscriptions or other methods of entering ‘free’ Ipod giveaways I’ve seen on the net — this certainly wins.

William Safire is retiring from his op-ed writing. But he will keep writing his On Language column.

So basically, Nixon’s former speechwriter will continue writing the columns where he actually writes stuff I’m interested in hearing, and usually agree with.

Wonderful Birthday present, Bill. Thanks!

Considering I just turned 36, and 36 is double-chai, I find this news story significant.

L’Chaim!