Internet Grab-bag

Not a day goes by in which I forget that the internet is an addictive and wonderful thing. Here’s a brief recollection of what I was able to learn in an about an hour at work while I was waiting for some paperwork to come back:

Some people craft helmets for their cats out of fruit, and then take
pictures of them.

When pandas do get around to having sex, they seem to prefer the reverse cowgirl position.

There are two Spanish autonomous cities on the coast of North Africa encircled completely by double razorwire topped fences because they represent European Union soil and are besieged by Sub-Saharan refugees.

Jack Abramoff wrote and produced the movie Red Scorpion (occasionally seen on late night cable) before he turned to lobbying. In a chilling vision of the future ethical miasma to come, Dolph Lundgren blows communists up in a movie made with financing and technical assistance from Apartheid-era South Africa. The movie’s definitive line? “Are you out of your mind?” “No. Just out of bullets.” [burps]

You can make your own caffeinated chocolate, if you’re the sort that can stand crunching on grounds.

I bitch about Georgetown students a lot, but this makes me damn proud. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was on campus to sell the wiretapping effort when some GU law students stood up with their backs to him, holding a banner with a bastardized Ben Franklin quote, “Those who would sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither.”

I don't pretend that the internet allows me to know everything, but it does let me make good conversation at parties, i.e. "You know, you should really make a fruit helmet for little Wemmick here. It would keep me from trying to put his head in my mouth."

Let Freedom Ring Choir

I was privileged today to be a part of the Let Freedom Ring Choir, made up of Georgetown University students, staff, and faculty combined with community gospel groups, for their Martin Luther King Jr. Day Concert.

Tickets were really hard to get; not in terms of scarcity, but in terms of hoops to jump through to get them (one hour to pick them up, three hours before the show) which is my best excuse for not telling many people. However, give a little click on over to here to find it in the archive. You can find me right in the center. I'm the blond guy. I haven't seen the show yet, but you might catch me getting choked up during "We Shall Overcome."

Some highlights of this experience:

On being told in the green room that President Bush had just arrived, 250 people groaned.

We had a fast pre-show practice in the ballet warm-up room, where I found so much bored ballerina graffiti on the wall that I just had to document it for the non-ballerina world to see:

Frankfurt Ballet- "No Fear - No Hope"
Big Balls (in Cyrillic)
Order of the Incubi
Hey to Arsen, from the Polish Chicos
I'm Great
M. Kupinski= respect
Sokolowska was here!
EAT SALAD
I love you Hyun-Oh Shun (in Korean)

There was a good deal of security with wandings and very, very angry puppies in the hall, so I can understand why the choir wasn't terribly excited about the President coming. When he took the stage to give a speech honoring Martin Luther King Jr., the wire-tapped, pacifist, champion of the discriminated and the poor, I begrudged him his applause from the audience. Then I heard the roar when we came out. We kicked his sorry Connecticut ass.

Things I have purchased which, because I purchased an economy pack of condoms at the same time, have necessitated a wry look from the cashier

1. Large tub of Land o’ Lakes Whipped Butter

2. French press and pack of Sour Apple Bubblelicious

3. Package of Tofu, Firm

Number two neatly illustrates just how easy it is to get EVERYTHING you need at Target.