I got a letter from the bro today, and I wrote him back a long letter in tiny-Scotto script. It's kind of funny to me that his and my handwriting are so similar... small, block lettering. The only real difference is that my e's look like left arrows, and his look like small capital Es. He wrote on ruled notebook paper, and I replied by handwriting on printer stock, so his margins were far better, but I managed to fit more text on the page, and have room for doodles of Newt and me waving and being generally friendly-like.

The Gallery of Hippie Horrors. Newbie confided to me at lunch today that she used to be a dope fiend....she's only 22, and had been smoking for over 9 years! Holy smokes! She confided in me, because I look like (and act like, for the most part) a card-carrying hippie.

Real-Time Cloud Rendering and Animation and Great Hurricane Fabian photo gallery.

The Writer's Almanac, a daily program of poetry and history hosted by Garrison Keillor, can be heard each day on public radio stations throughout the country. Each day's program is about five minutes long—check your local radio listings for the station and time in your area. An entire year of almanac entries is available.

Random Board game Factoid of the day -

Stratego is a somewhat watered-down version of Prussian chess. War college cadets played chess with the pieces shaped like the Stratego pieces, which meant that each player knew what his pieces were, but didn't know what the opponent's pieces were unless he remembered how they moved or what their original position had been. It strikes me as a great way to reinforce the learning experience, and to teach the importance of intelligence in planning. The real fun was in finishing games that you didn't start. You would have to look at the captured pieces, your own captured pieces, the positions on the board - and figure out what the remaining pieces were from where they were and how they were being used. Another, tougher variation of Prussian chess had a wall across the middle of the board. Each player could only see their own side of the board, and had to control his pieces past the wall from memory.

7:20 am

"The symbol of karuna was the Yoni Yantra: a downward-pointing triangle, representing both the female genital (yoni) and the triune nature of the goddess. Also known as the Kali Yantra, this was described as "the meditation-sign of the vulva," the Triangle of Life, or the Primordial Image. Pious meditation on the Yoni Yantra was the duty of an enlightened sage: "The object of the worship of the Yantra is to attain unity with the mother of the universe in her forms as Mind, Life, and Matter... preparatory to Yoga union with her as she is in herself as Pure Consciousness."

"The same Yoni Yantra appeared everywhere in the ancient world as a symbol of "woman" or "motherhood" or "goddess." It was a hieroglyph of Men-Nefer, the virgin moon goddess who gave her name to Egypt's oldest capital city, Memphis. Egypt's version of the triple goddess was a Kali-like Mother of Time, the three sides of her triangle standing for past, present, and future. The inscription on her temple at Sais said: "I am all that has been, that is, that will be." Perhaps the Christian writer of the Book of Revelation borrowed the phrase for his own God, who accordingly claimed to be that "which is, and which was, and which is to come" (Revelation 1:8); but the original phrase was the Mother's. The many images of the three Fates in pagan religions were founded on the older concept of the goddess's holy trinity. In Greece, where the Fates governed every life, even the lives of gods, the sacred triangle was the delta, the symbol of Demeter whose name was literally "Delta Mother." According to the Suda Lexicon (A.D. 1000), the delta was "the letter of the vulva." The Hebrew alphabet made it daleth, the Door (of life). It figured prominently in the sigils of Greco-Roman goddesses. Gnostics said it represented "creative intellect," and the basic triangle was always a symbol of "woman." Among gypsies, the oldest hieroglyphic sign for "woman" was a triangle."

Well... that certainly begs a few questions, such as:

Does that explain Elvis? He did love his mama, and he did settle in Memphis.

Does any of this have anything to do with Aldous Huxley or Jim Morrison? "The Doors of Perception" and "The Doors"? Morrison is said to have spent a lot of time meditating on the Yoni Yantra in various ways. Heck, I know I do... who doesn't?

Does a triangle or pyramid pointing up instead of down have a masculine interpretation?

If so, what does that imply about the Star of David? Was there some off screen sex going on in the temple? David did seem to spend a lot of time dallying and writing erotic poetry.

What does this imply about the real role of Andrea? Surely she does more than clean up after the boys.

9:12 am

prop2 on the rt 1 this morn/arrived early!

Kahuna out of sorts ... Overtired or something else? Not firing on all pistons.

Eek… I forgot part of my morning ritual... Will have distinct 5 o'clock shadow today.

2:35 pm

Looks like Kahuna not only went through all of Newbies notebooks looking for a contact number, but she also deleted her Act! database. While motivated, Kahuna is a very real menace to all things organized and technological.

Ugh... Creepy Frankie came by to use the phone, and I answered the door, begged me for money. He claimed he had no food in the house, so I gave him a box of spaghetti, a jar of sauce and a few boxes of box of mac & cheese. (Hurricane single-pot starchy-yum backup food for when the lights go out, and you need to cook over open flame. He borrowed a pot to cook in, too. I hope I get the pot back, but I'm not counting on it. I wonder how someone can have a place to live, and not even have a pan to cook in.

Instructions: Just read the sentence straight through without really thinking about it.

Acocdrnig to an elgnsih unviesitry sutdy the oredr of letetrs in a wrod dosen't mttaer, the olny thnig thta's iopmrantt is that the frsit and lsat ltteer of eevry word is in the crcreot ptoision. The rset can be jmbueld and one is stlil able to raed the txet wiohtut dclftfuiiy.

Points: 34.5 Adj: 0 Rem: -0.5
Bank: 24.0 Adj: 0
Bank Max: 35 Point: 0 Act: 0
Bank Method: Start on Monday
Vitamins: Yes

Breakfast: 8.0 points
8.0: Croissan'wich w/ Egg & Cheese

Lunch: 9.6 points
0.0: Soda; Low calorie; other than cola or pepper; w/aspartame
3.1: Rice; white; glutinous; cooked
0.0: Mixed grilled veggies
3.0: Tempura bite cheesecake
3.5: Oil; olive; salad or cooking

Dinner: 9.4 points
0.1: Beans; snap; green; canned; no salt added; drained solids
3.1: Chik patties - morningstar
3.1: Chik patties - morningstar
3.1: Chik patties - morningstar

Snack: 7.5 points
2.5: Cereals; cocoa puffs 1 cup
2.5: Cereals; cocoa puffs 1 cup
2.5: Cereals; cocoa puffs 1 cup


Speaking of Today's Eats - HOLY MOLEY! Wow... all my children are roosting!

Want to be one of my vampire children? Join me!

You have drunk 7720 pints of blood.

You are sire to 46 other vampires, including: LdySaphyre (6662 pints), Liliana (2423 pints), MissV (2268 pints), mixedresults (1246 pints), gilbella (1160 pints), Morgoth (372 pints), Sierina (190 pints), phenrill (128 pints), DEATHBEAR (113 pints), UnknownPersona (106 pints)