Amazingly, Hurricane Ivan is back [note: originally linked to CNN; replacement link found via Wikipedia]. The remnants of the storm drifted back out to sea, which got them going again… and Ivan was again classified as a tropical storm.
Flood warnings are in effect in Louisiana and texas. Again.
I experienced a bit of cognitive dissonance earlier today. I was listening to a report on The World (PRI) about the bombing of the Australian embassy in Jakarta, and a reporter (Stephen McConnell) was explaining the Australian political situation for an American audience. (Why? They’ve got an election coming up in a month. Comparisons to the Madrid bombing should be obvious at this point.)
He explained, “It’s a two-horse race. You’ve got the conservatives, who in this country are called the Liberals, and then there’s the Labor Party, which would be much more aligned to something like the Democrats…”
It’s a lot more complicated, of course, but the idea of conservatives calling themselves liberals just seemed bizarre, considering that the terms are opposites here in the US. For all practical purposes, conservative and liberal are swear words when used by someone of the opposite ideology!
Noticed an ambulance parked out in front of Fry’s earlier today. On my way in, I passed two people who were talking about it:
“That’s kind of disturbing.”
“Sure, ‘Shop ’till you drop,’ but…”
One of those moments where you know you shouldn’t laugh, but it somehow manages to be funny anyway.
While leaving the apartment this morning, I noticed something strange: All the grass which had (presumably) grown from seed had dew on it. All the grass which had been installed as sod earlier this year did not. There were big squares and long rectangles of bright green mixed in with the shining greenish-white lawn.
(Sorry, no photos. Maybe if the same thing happens tomorrow.)
And via Begging to Differ, there’s the story of the beer-guzzling bear.
Yes, it seems that last week a black bear broke into a cooler at a Washington campground, drank 36 cans of beer, and passed out.
The funniest part: the bear went for the microbrew. It apparenty tried a Busch beer (I don’t think they market that brand here, do they?), then switched to local Ranier Beer.
This is the kind of stuff you just can’t make up. Or rather, if you did, no one would believe it.
There’s at least one company based in Greece that distributes authentic Greek yogurt in the U.S. The stuff can be tricky to find, but incredibly worth it. It’s very thick and creamy and doesn’t contain any gelatin or preservatives. The fat-free version could probably help a lot of people lose weight, as it tastes like sour cream and tzatziki made with it is addictive. Trader Joe’s has been carrying it pretty reliably, but as Whole Foods is closer, we don’t get to TJ’s on a regular basis. However, on our last trip to Whole Foods, they had it, right there in with the rest of the yogurt. And the peasants rejoiced.
Tonight, I went looking for it and instead found a sign: “Whole Foods Market has temporarily decided not to carry Fage Greek Yogurt. Please look for this product again in the future.” So let me get this straight: you just recently decided to carry it and now you’re putting it on hiatus for some unknown reason. What the hell? Or do I want to know what the reason is?
Neil Gaiman writes about the re-release of The Day I Swapped My Dad For Two Goldfish:
There were copies of the new edition of THE DAY I SWAPPED MY DAD FOR TWO GOLDFISH, with the Enhanced CD in it. It’s bigger than the original edition, has a new Dave McKean cover (mostly because people seemed convinced that the old cover had something to do with Counting Crows, and because the cover didn’t really reflect the art style inside) and I wrote a new afterword for it.
I mentioned this to Katie (a Counting Crows fan), and of course we both wondered about the comment. So I tracked down a copy of the original book cover:
One look at this, and Katie said, “That is the album cover!” She immediately ran into the next room to pull out This Desert Life:
Sure enough, a quick look through the liner notes yielded, “Illustrations by Dave McKean. Cover illustration adapted from the book, ‘The Day I Swapped My Dad For Two Goldfish,’ by…”
For those who are interested, here’s the new edition of the book:
