Wed 061009

I have nothing much to say other than "hello" but I wanted to say at least that.

So. Hello.

Shots Fired at D.C. Holocaust Museum

Gerald Herbert / AP PhotoTerrible news from Washington D.C., as a gunman has opened fire at the National Holocaust Museum on Wednesday afternoon. One security and the gunman were hospitalized after exchanging fire. The gunman, reported to be James Wenneker von Brunn, is an 89-year-old with links to white supremacy groups. He was seen wit ha rifle. A third person was injured by broken glass. The Holocaust museum, which draws nearly 2 million visitors annually, requires guests to pass through metal detectors.

Read it at MSNBC

Missing Million-Dollar Mattress

An Israeli woman named Annat thought she was doing her mom a favor by buying her a nice new mattress. "Might as well throw out the old one," she must have thought. Little did she know that for years her mother had stuffed her savings into the old mattress, amounting to nearly $1 million. Now, Annat (who is not revealing her last name) has enlisted local authorities to help her find the stash at Jerusalem's two city dumps. Other locals who have heard about the treasure-filled mattress have the same idea, and in response security has been beefed up at the sites. Annat, for her part, does not seem too heartbroken. She told Israeli radio, "It's a very, very sad story but I've been through worse. It's a matter of proportions in life ... people need to know how to accept the good and the bad in life."

Read it at CNN.com

Murder Trial of Kinky Banker Begins

Edouard Stern, one of France's richest men, was playing some kinky games with his mistress, Cecile Brossard, when he talked a little too dirty to her. "One million for a whore, that's expensive," Stern said in reference to money he had promised to give her. Unfortunately, it was an unwise moment to utter such an insult, as Stern was bound in a "submissive position" and wrapped in a latex condom-like suit. Brossard flipped out and fired four shots into her lover, killing him instantly. Now, the scandalous trial has begun in Geneva, and the media is having a field day. Speaking to the court, Brossard begged forgiveness of Stern's family, and said, "It was not a question of money. It was a question of love."

Read it at Associated Press

English Gets Millionth Word

Apparently, we haven't had so many new words since Shakespeare's time. The Telegraph reports that Wednesday the English language—which adds a word every 98 minutes, on average—will reach one million words, as measured by the Global Language Monitor. The GLM is an association of academics that tracks new words, acknowledging them once they've been used 25,000 times by media outlets, social networking sites, and other sources. Dictionaries have more stringent requirements for new words, including use over a certain period of time. Candidates for the millionth word include social networking staples "defollow" and "defriend"; "noob," a slightly negative term for folks new to a task or community; "greenwashing," which is what happens when companies become enviro-friendly; and "chiconomics," which is the new recession fashion.

Read it at Telegraph

Hey, thats my Yahoo page^

On a personal note, I got rained out. I had dug up a wheelbarrow full of groundcover, tilled an appropriate sized planting area (with only 1 email/phone call to Rob, in Boston, regarding tiller operation), and planted about one tenth of said area when the skies opened up and God aimed his super soaker at me.

It stopped within a half hour but when I attempted to resume working my tools and extremeties got caked in mud within seconds so I gave it up til another day.

Got the requisite trivia email in the meantime, tho, and it's a go for tonight. If, like last time, there are only 5 teams including us playing and one team gets disqualified for cheating with cell phones we might get lucky enough to place.

Zvon wrote:

Hey, thats my Yahoo page^

Telegraph?
The Daily Beast?

Hey, y'all! Glad you did say hi +, Rose. I've been wiped out since Sunday, when I wasn't feeling well and had to attend my niece's graduation open house. Work has been hectic, as usual, this week and I'm so looking forward to the weekend. I hope I don't have to do anything.


I have a Google page with nothing but a box and lovely, blessed blank screen.

We're twins! Google is my home page, too.

The Standard Deviants went into the last bonus question in 3rd place. The question, which of the front 9 holes in Augusta has a palm tree - multiple choice of 4th, 6th or 8th hole. None of us knew so we bet 1 (out of 25) on 4th - got it right but our low bet cost us our place. We won a pitcher of beer in the drawing, tho.