"The name is More. Thomas More". He flashed his sheriff's badge. The beadle stepped back with fear in his eyes. As Sheriff of London, More held letters patent which allowed him to execute summary justice on any commoner up to the rank of gentleman without needing to bring the miscreant before a King's magistrate. In short, More had a license to kill.

Uhm, okay.

And forget about it if you're on dial-up.

Yeah, I cancelled my account, too.

Not that I used it much.

Yes. House Speaker Dennis Hastert. A complete, utter, partisan ass.

I am a dwarf. This means I was born with a medically recognized condition that makes my body smaller than the average person's. The name of my condition is Cartilage Hair Syndrome Hypoplasia, but you can just call me Billy.

Most of us with dwarfism prefer to be described as "Little People". And please, put the emphasis on the word "People." We did not spring from the pages of a storybook or emerge from an enchanted forest. We are not magical beings and we are not monsters. We are parents and sons and daughters. We are doctors and lawyers and realtors and teachers. We dream, cry, laugh, shout, fall in love, and make mistakes. We are no different from you.

Dwarfism is a condition that affects over 1.5 million people in the U.S. alone, and there are over 100 different types of dwarfism. Most Little People are born to families with no history of dwarfism. Even today, in the most open-minded and prejudice-intolerant society ever in recorded human history, people with dwarfism are still subjected to degrading stereotypes, societal barriers, and attitudinal barriers. We endure everything from job discrimination and reduced social opportunities to physical abuse and open public ridicule on a daily basis.

Okay, you want to know the truth? I was trying to track down an anecdote about the time when Barty was a member of the Spike Jones band, and would play the pair of pants that ran across the stage in Laura. I remember somebody talking about bumping into a pair of pants with a cigar sticking out of them, smoking....

LONDON (Reuters) - A cleaner at London's Tate Britain modern art gallery threw out a bag of garbage that was part of an artwork because it was thought to be trash, British newspapers reported Friday.

The transparent bag of garbage -- full of newspaper, cardboard and other bits of paper -- formed part of a work by German-born artist Gustav Metzger called "Recreation Of First Public Demonstration Of Auto-Destructive Art."

It was on display next to a sheet of nylon that had been spattered with acid, and a metal sculpture on a table when a cleaner tossed it out with the other trash.

A Tate spokesman said the mistake was made the day before the exhibition opened at the end of June, and although the bag was later rescued, it had been damaged and Metzger had to replace it with another one.

The newspapers said the spokesman would not reveal how much the bag had cost to replace.

"It's now covered over at night so it can't be removed," the spokesman told the Times.

But y'all have heard this already. Like, everywhere, right?

an exhibit of current Stained Glass by Jay & Mary Ann Paulukonis
Aug 26 — Sept 18, 2004
AFA Gallery 514 Lackawanna Ave., Scranton, PA
Opening Reception Friday, Aug 27, 6-8 pm
Gallery Talk Wed, Sept 15, 8pm

ie, my parents.

Of some interest may be Reflections, the gallery blog. It's getting more stuff. Oh, and if you've got any complaints, send 'em my way—I'm their webmaster. :::sigh::: and I'm a bit behind....

More importantly, the story of Little Dog Turpie and what happens when you bark too much.

I will find back the source of this saccharine-fueled cuteness injection and link it here, someday.

aka I am bitter, hear me rant:

[....] The [SF] genre is obviously low-grade escapism written for simpleminded adults or, at best, clever kids. Never mind any claims its writers may make for legitimacy, no matter on what grounds or with what evidence. Simply look at the reams of crap flowing through the bookstores like so many Big Macs—Billions Served!—and the truth becomes obvious. Or just look at the book covers.

Ah, yes. That was unique and insightful.

BannerReport.com hosts a massive gallery of banner ads and will be of special interest to graphic designers, web developers, marketing professionals and as those with an interest in online advertising.

BannerReport.com is the creation of Web Evangelist, Tari Akpodiete. After an extensive internet search for examples of banner advertising, Tari discovered that while there was a lot of information on the subject, there were very few comprehensive visual resources available. And so the idea of BannerReport.com was born.

Determined to build the biggest and best banner ad gallery on the web, Tari has spent the last few years obsessively gathering banner ads. As a result, BannerReport.com features some of the finest examples of banner advertisements available. The centerpiece of BannerReport.com is a searchable database of banner ads covering many categories and subjects, totalling nearly 15 000 images and counting.

Oh, my freakin' word.

In USA Today, of all places.

Me, I'm gonna walk everywhere...

Or whatever it is.

An, uh, video by Diana DeFrancesco .

Over a year ago, I posted a short article that I found in a copier at work. While the host-blog is virtually inactive, that thread lives on. Monstrously so, once the subject of the article found it, and started posting his massive theses as comments, chunk-by-chunk. Feast, upon The Secrets of Olyphant [cue spectral echo SFX]

Dr. Pepper clones.

Endgadget's guide to couture.

The idea of using Jell-O as a sculptural medium came to me as a result of consciously trying to free my mind from the traditional constraints of sculpture making. Over the course of a year of research, experimentation and testing, and with the help of numerous food scientists and chemists, I developed a recipe and technique for the creation of a unique Jell-O-like material. This new substance has the look, feel and scent of real Jell-O, yet is non-perishable with indefinite longevity.

Thanks to J-Walk.

In January 1995, a friend of mine, Professor Michael Beddow of Dept. of German, Leeds University, gave me a disk containing the first 12 preludes and fugues of J. S. Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, Book II. They were sequenced by an anonymous enthusiast and deposited in the public domain on 17 August 1993. Ever since I am looking for this person to thank his or her effort, but so far in vain. In common with many of those freely available in internet, however, these MIDI files contained numerous errors, and subsequently I have decided to correct them. [....]

I have also added the remaining 12 to complete the set, as I have already edited the music with Finale for my research project. The new MIDI files, i.e. #13-24, were fairly straight MIDI output from Finale, but then I have added a gradual tempo change with Cakewalk for Windows. [....] All these files reflect my editorial decisions at the time; they are not based on a printed edition by other musicologists.

Lost my chance. Dang-nabbit.

Oh, well. I don't look so good in motley, anyway.

This CD used on random play mode only.It has 99 scales included in the 99 tracks. When using the "random" function, the CD will automatically select random tones, and make a new melody.And when selecting random and return function simultaneously, the new melody will play endless. ?This CD is used on random play mode only. Please make sure that your CD player has a random function.The interval of sound will be changed depending on the CD player.

Hrm. That shouldn't be too difficult to replicate. It's an interesting idea, too. Make the player do all the work.

Casiotone for the Painfully Alone is the musical alias of 25 year old American film school drop-out Owen Ashworth. Ashworth began making music in 1997 after he realized that song-making was a far more cost-effective means of storytelling than film-making.

Using only battery operated keyboards and electronics as instruments, Ashworth has created a hybrid strain of raw, emotional, and very homemade synth pop that is as influenced as much by film and literature as by its more obvious musical counterparts. CFTPA's claustrophobic two-minute character studies shudder with reverbed beats, blown-out chords, simple-but-infectous melodies, layered beneath the sometimes funny but always heartbreaking lyrics of Ashworth's sighing baritone.

I'm storing this here so I can find it back later.

Hello! This is my website! My website has a blog! I put really cool stuff on it.

Er, nevermind.

Er, ah, hrm. Hunh. Review later, I guess.

Spuk um Mitternacht: the German version of Ghost at Midnight. Not a dubbed version—no. "Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy spoke phonetically in German with the help of speech coaches, while native speakers replaced the original supporting cast.".

Just click on the links. Trust me.

Demolition Derby, Friday Aug 6, 6:30 pm.

I'm going to be missing the Tractor pull at noon on Sunday.

:::sigh:::

LONDON (Reuters) - WANTED - A court jester to fill a post vacant for 350 years since England executed its king.

English Heritage said in an advertisement in the Times on Thursday applicants for the competition at the weekend should bring their own costumes with bells, but said it would provide a bladder on a stick -- a traditional jester's prop.

Contrary to the image of a buffoon, court jesters had to be highly astute, able to lift the spirits of their monarchs and risked death if they failed -- as many did.

The duties of the last court jester, whose job ended in 1649 when Charles I lost his head, included making him laugh and providing a distraction from politics.

This time, however, English Heritage said the winner would not risk decapitation but would still have to provide trenchant wit. Would-be fools should attend a public audition Saturday at Stoneleigh Park in central England, wearing their costumes.

Time to start polishing up the ol' resume....

Look—if you don't get, you just don't get it.

I'm hungry.

Er, ah. Hmmm.....

Pac-Mondrian is a flash-version of Pac-Man that has replaced the tradition skeleton-and-dots playing field of Pac-Man with Piet Mondrian's Broadway Boogie-Woogie. Gameplay is, er, unusual.

The page mutters about a contest and prized—please note that this is a proposal that wasn't accepted; hence: no money. Enjoy!

There is not much explanatory text, here. And having exchanged mail with Mr. Froyla, I can tell you that you should be grateful for this.

AL JAZEERA BANNER REMOVED

Al Jazeera reports: "Organizers at the Democratic Party convention in United States have removed Al Jazeera's logotype banner from its skybox without assigning reasons.

Al Jazeera's skybox is one of the several that media organizations use as broadcast booths to cover the upcoming convention in Boston to confirm John Kerry's nomination as George Bush's presidential challenger in November.

"We found that the banner disappeared for some reason," Al Jazeera's Washington bureau chief Hafiz al-Mirazi said.

"We contacted the Democratic National Convention and the people who are organizing the convention. And then they said it has been removed, maybe for lack of enough space or something like that, although they approved originally the sign and everything on it. And every time we get different answers."

"And finally, they said, 'Sorry, we cannot put it back." And it's the only news organization sign that was taken," al-Mirazi pointed out. ….In place of Al Jazeera's logotype will be a banner reading "Strong for America."

And this the DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION! Incidentally the new democratic (sic) government of Iraq has threatened to follow Saddam's lead and kick Al Jazeera and Al Aribiya out.

Sorry for the untimeliness; this was accidentally posted elsewhere, first....