Fantastic idea: Temptation blocker allows you to block certain programs from yourself to increase productivity. I had a similar system in undergrad-- a piece of paper that said "get back to work" taped extensively over the monitor-- this is even more effective. It even blocks using ctrl+alt+delete so you can't just shut it off. Very clever!

(link via lifehacker my new favorite site)

Just asking...
What AHS c/o 2000 student (who claimed to have gone to college in the Sudan but definitely went to Auburn and just blatantly lied the whole time) got busted for second degree burglary and was hauled off to jail recently?

(all page six jokes aside, does anyone know who I'm talking about and have info about this? Laura advised not to post his name and Laura must be obeyed.)

I was just perusing my favorite site for reminiscing- Atlanta Time Machine- and saw this. Did anyone else know that there was an Atlanta White House? I know I never got around to doing touristy things while I lived there, but I've been all over Briarcliff. How did I miss that? It's kind of freaky. Maybe the "first lady" has a House of Yes Jackie-O complex.

Random comments on books and movies:
--War of the Worlds was an exciting movie, but the book trumps it by being both exciting and logical (and less than $4 at B&N).

--Despite what Ebert says about it, I want to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory again just to watch Johnny Depp.

--Elizabeth (1998) was an exciting film. Having just finished The Life of Elizabeth I did not spoil my enjoyment of the movie at all, since the plot bore no resemblance to the actual life of Elizabeth I (at least as told by Alison Weir).

--It's Audrey Hepburn month on TCM. If you've never seen it, try to catch Charade with Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant because Cary Grant is the greatest and it's as good as a Hitchcock thriller (even better than some, dare I say).

Hilarious scathing toy review for the Human Torch ATV. I'll take the easy route and quote the same portions Defamer did:

"There has never been a more ridiculously stupid and insulting toy than the Fantastic 4 Human Torch ATV (with Light-Up Headlights!). And this is why:

The Human Torch has no need for an All-Terrain Vehicle because the last time I checked, the Human Torch can f--king FLY.

Has anyone told the Human Torch that it might not be safe to sit on top of a gas tank when one is on FIRE? Nice message to send the kids, assholes! ...

The Fantastic 4 Human Torch ATV also has light-up headlights! Good thing, because there's nothing more useless than dark-down headlights. What does the freaking Human Torch need with headlights anyway? HE'S ON FIRE!"

I saw the Fantastic Four stuff at Walmart the other day. Couldn't they come up with anything for Invisagirl and Bendy-guy (no clue what they're really called)? Maybe those had already sold out... Good thing I had no intention of watching this movie and/or buying invisible person costuming.

Thank goodness. After years of saying "Hotel California" is the worst, most overrated song ever, I found some support. Not on this list of Top 13 Most Overrated Songs, but in the FARK comments about that list. Three people meantioned "Hotel California" as deserving to be on that list. I take my validation where I can find it.

Need a research idea? 125 Questions: What we don't know from Science magazine may help. Most of them are boring, "important" questions about curing cancer and such, but others are about dinos!

"Why were some dinosaurs so large?
Dinosaurs reached almost unimaginable sizes, some in less than 20 years. But how did the long-necked sauropods, for instance, eat enough to pack on up to 100 tons without denuding their world?"

and black holes!

"What is the nature of black holes?
Relativistic mass crammed into a quantum-sized object? It's a recipe for disaster--and scientists are still trying to figure out the ingredients."

(courtesy of FARK)

I am no longer in love with Iowa. The winter may have been surprisingly mild, but it is crazy hot here this week (hitting 101 on Wednesday). Plus on Saturday, this freak storm rolled in from nowhere with 80 mph winds that nearly blew me away. (The gust was so strong I went into frantic foreigner mode and asked the Target security guard if there was a tornado. I expected Toto to fly by at any moment.)

Right up my alley- AFI ranks the top 100 movie quotes. The usual suspects are represented, though I'm sure I could come up with some good ones that aren't listed.

Does anyone else watch Bridezillas on WE? The first season was so great, I caught the reruns this past year religiously. The craziness was usually subtle and you could sense that the girls were trying to put their best foot forward, but were just too wonderfully NYC-neurotic to keep it all inside. I think the key was that the producers were setting out to chronicle fabulous NYC weddings, but ended up better able to sell the show by spinning it as Bridezillas (much to the dismay of their bride stars). When I learned how the show originated, I knew there would never be a good second season.

I was right.

The second season premiered last Sunday and it bit the big one. I knew it was over from the moment I saw their new ad (which is also the new intro song). They lost all the spirit of subtlety and mostly classy neuroticism, and just went for the nut-jobs. The focus of this first episode was a psychotic (read:typical) 19-year-old marrying her boyfriend of apparently 1-1.5 months. In the first season, it was obvious who was getting a divorce within the year, and it was fun. This was just sad. Too much yelling, too much crying, no style... don't bother. Hope for another marathon of old episodes.

More interesting perhaps than Angels and Demons, my love of all things English was indulged through a couple of books I read while I was home last month. The first, a work of fiction, was The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory which I whole heartedly recommend if you don't mind mixing historical fact with romance (or 650 page novels). It follows Mary Boleyn from 1521 until 1536, chronicling (in varying degrees of fiction) the intrigues of the Boleyn siblings in Henry VIII's court. Only one of the three Boleyns has a happy ending, as you may know.

Having read that book and wondering what was fact versus fantasy, I picked up The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison Weir. She doesn't offer any credentials on her book covers, so I won't start citing her at conferences (not that APA would be particularly interested in my opinions on whether Henry VIII should have executed Anne Boleyn), but I assume she's not too far afield. For nonfiction, the book reads very much like a novel (which given the topic was probably not hard to do). It makes me want to head out to England for a little tomb and castle sightseeing.

Hilarious last item from the Daily Dish:
"Ashton Kutcher and MTV were really upset when one of their "Punk'd" missions - with rapper Lil Jon - backfired. Apparently MTV and Ashton spent a lot of money and months planning a secret operation. Lil Jon was supposed to be on a private plane to Las Vegas, but customs agents claimed he and his entourage were boarding a plane bound for Ecuador. Lil Jon was onto them within minutes. He recognized some of the actors posing as security, told Ashton to come out from the back of the plane, and said, "Come on, you can't punk the motherf--ing King of Crunk!" "

I know it's completely uncool to read Dan Brown because every idiot thinks he's a genius reading The DaVinci Code, but I just knocked out Angels & Demons in just over 24 hours, and I've got to give it props. Unlike the other book, it doesn't intentionally mislead you on who the ringleader is, it doesn't get boring in the middle 200 pages, and I find Rome a much more interesting base than Paris/England for the chasing. The plots are highly similar, so I guess I can't say Dan Brown is a fabulous author, but I like his stuff. I know there's not a soul left on the planet who hasn't read the DaVinci code, but if there were, I would tell that soul to read Angels & Demons first or instead of the other book.

What I really wanted to point out was that Dan Brown's website has a lot of great info (pictures, etc.) on all of his books. The best part is the two challenges on the site that were apparently part of contests at one point but are now just for fun. They're really quite clever, and even though I used someone's directions to get through quickly, I still felt smart solving some of the puzzles and sleuthing. good times.

Of particular interest to Laura- translations of what the professor says and what he/she really means. You'll need to refresh your memory for when you embark on your graduate career.

Love it-- Art collector has Sotheby's and Christie's play Rock-Paper-Scissors to determine who got to auction off his collection. Who knew this was common practice in Japan? I love it.

"Maclean said Christie's decided to play the eventual winner -- "scissors" -- after doing some research.
"A lady in Japan did her own research and she independently came with the idea that scissors should be the way we should go,' he said. 'I spoke to my own children and they also felt that that was the way.
"So, between us we decided to go with scissors."

I'm partial to using rock, so this is great news for me. Go ahead, make my day.

(via FARK)

Don't bake Alaska. Activists serve up 900 pound Baked Alaskan:

"Our congressmen, who take an oath to serve the people up in that House, are serving the oil companies. They're not serving us. And we're going to serve them baked Alaska."

I looove funny activists.

A Plan for the Improvement of English Spelling
by Mark Twain

For example, in Year 1 that useless letter "c" would be dropped to be replased either by "k" or "s", and likewise "x" would no longer be part of the alphabet. The only kase in which "c" would be retained would be the "ch" formation, which will be dealt with later. Year 2 might reform "w" spelling, so that "which" and "one" would take the same konsonant, wile Year 3 might well abolish "y" replasing it with "i" and Iear 4 might fiks the "g/j" anomali wonse and for all. Jenerally, then, the improvement would kontinue iear bai iear with Iear 5 doing awai with useless double konsonants, and Iears 6-12 or so modifaiing vowlz and the rimeining voist and unvoist konsonants. Bai Iear 15 or sou, it wud fainali bi posibl tu meik ius ov thi ridandant letez "c", "y" and "x" -- bai now jast a memori in the maindz ov ould doderez -- tu riplais "ch", "sh", and "th" rispektivli. Fainali, xen, aafte sam 20 iers ov orxogrefkl riform, wi wud hev a lojikl, kohirnt speling in ius xrewawt xe Ingliy-spiking werld.

(Liberal quotes link from Fark)

Laura's going to love this: Idaho passes Napoleon Dynamite resolution. I'm going to assume it's for real, because of the website, but this paragraph was too funny for politicians... though maybe not Idahoan politicians.

WHEREAS, any members of the House of Representatives or the Senate of the Legislature of the State of Idaho who choose to vote "Nay" on this concurrent resolution are "FREAKIN' IDIOTS!" and run the risk of having the "Worst Day of Their Lives!"

Some other highlights of the bill:
12 WHEREAS, the Preston High School administration and staff, particularly
13 the cafeteria staff, have enjoyed notoriety and worldwide attention; and
14 WHEREAS, tater tots figure prominently in this film thus promoting Idaho's
15 most famous export; and
14 WHEREAS, tater tots figure prominently in this film thus promoting Idaho's
15 most famous export; and
16 WHEREAS, the friendship between Napoleon and Pedro has furthered
17 multiethnic relationships; and
18 WHEREAS, Uncle Rico's football skills are a testament to Idaho athletics;
19 and
20 WHEREAS, Napoleon's bicycle and Kip's skateboard promote better air qual-
21 ity and carpooling as alternatives to fuel-dependent methods of transporta-
22 tion; and
23 WHEREAS, Grandma's trip to the St. Anthony Sand Dunes highlights a long-
24 honored Idaho vacation destination; and
25 WHEREAS, Rico and Kip's Tupperware sales and Deb's keychains and glamour
26 shots promote entrepreneurism and self-sufficiency in Idaho's small towns;

(courtesy of FARK)

Reading update (I'm supposed to be writing a paper on personality traits, so why not take a break for a book report, right??)
Just finished Vanity Fair (Thakeray) which was similar to Middlemarch in its Victorian soap opera type storyline- only edgier, and slightly less romantic (though it ended with the same note about how most lives are dull and normal, but that's okay). It was slow at times, but I fell in love with the characters (even the ones I hated). If you've got time for 680 pages of rambling, then go for it.

In a funnier vein, I'm now working on Honeymoon with My Brother (Wizner), which is totally stoking my wanderlust and making me plan pretend trips to Japan and jobs in Germany. It's not just about travel though, he's getting in touch with himself and bonding with his brother, which is a little sappy for me, but it's a quick read to get back to travel. Two funny bits:

"We hopped a ride with locals eager to give lifts on their scooters for a couple of dong, the world's most unfortunately named currency."

One of the suggested ways to get rid of street vendors: "Learn how to say, "I want to buy a kiss," in the native language. It's a surefire was to immediately drive most saleswomen, and nearly all salesmen, to the other side of the street. If not, you just found a potential foreign girlfriend."

A funny concept taken too far, so it's even funnier. It's the Dead Celebrity Soulmate Search. Tell the searcher a little about yourself (interests in world domination? poison?) and what you're looking for. Then get paired with a dead celebrity. I was hoping to get Elvis, but they skew political.

I got Leonardo DaVinci who showed mutual interest:
"What your date might be like...
If you've ever dated someone with ADD, you might have an idea of what to expect. Leonardo might suddenly disappear to work on an idea, or might change topics midstream as some concept or phrase triggers a new series of thoughts. Your best bet is to offer your assistance on whatever project he is involved in at the moment; then, at least you'll be able to talk a little, even if the conversation will mainly consist of being given a series of instructions by your overachieving master."

(courtesy of FARK)