Hey Jude

All right, I understand that "Hey Jude" can be a divisive song, with people loving or hating it and not really in between. However, I do believe that there is not a single person alive who can't enjoy this kid's devotion to his passion: being cute.

This Kid epitomizes (perhaps?) that wonderful childhood quality of self-gratification and self-satisfaction. He's doing what he loves because it makes him feel good. He loves the song, so he's gonna sing it. And he's gonna do it in his diapers, by gum. Anyway, the cutest kid ever.

Fame

I'm gonna live forever!

Check it out, everyone, I'm Famous!

That link probably won't work forever, but not to worry, I'm copying the file to a DV tape. Oh memories.

Infectious Fun

Ha! OK, Kudos to Tristyn for pointing me toward this delightful video. I think we can all get behind it.

Lollipop!

I guarantee you'll feel great after watching it.

Twitterlee-Dee 2

OK. So I updated the Twitter account (months ago) to be updated via SMS. I'm finally actually USING it on a somewhat regular basis.

And If you'll roll your eyes to the right (not that kind of roll... jerk) you'll see that updates are right there! The last three! What a world we live in, eh?

My weekend:

Friday Night: Hung out, drank wine. Good times. Naps. Etc. etc. Then I drove Joe, this guy who crashes here, to The Station and he watched the glory of a Nick-directed show that aired on Fox. He was also drunk for the first time in months.

Then we went out to Brian Boru's and met up with Luke and had birthday pleasantries. Which mostly just meant hanging out like we usually do. I drank an energy drink on the way out and consequently felt sorta like shit for most of the time I was out there. I guess that's what I get for being up since three in the A.M.

Saturday I drank more wine and met up with work folks for celebrations of Matt's birthday. We started at Dogfish with delicious foods, went over to the White Heart for boogieing (yep, I was dancing. ...I had had a few. It was ridiculous, you would have loved it). We ducked out of The White Heart a bit early and jetted over to Empire and met up with Nick's Ladyfriend and associate. From there Wendy took us in to the PSC where I may or may not have wheelchair jousted and removed my pants. Not at the same time.

Then I went home and slept.

The next day Mum came over and we had a pleasant dinner involving Pizza made by yours truly, a bottle of wine and an apple pie. I also bought her flowers. Happy Birthday, Mum!

Then I went to bed and from there to work. Then I wrote this post.

Besides a good band name, of course

What on earth is a "Chinchilla Beard"?

I've been reading Sherlock Holmes stories lately. It's way more enjoyable than when I tried as a younger man. Largely, I think, because of the steady evolution of the English language. But this particular story, "The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb," features a man with a "chinchilla beard growing from the creases of his double chin."

I leads me to believe it's one of those beards that grows on the soft, fleshy part of the neck. The part that I hate shaving because I worry about slipping and cutting open my carotid and bleeding out on the old-soap-green linoleum tiles.

I think it's the beard you see a lot on basketball players? Almost like chin straps, but further back on the neck. Under the jaw.

I'm also, of course, puzzled by the name. I've been looking at pictures of Chinchillas (Awwwwwwww) and they don't seem to have any sort of beard. The name "Chinchilla" is Spanish and means "Little Chincha." And the Chincha in this case refers to the Chincha People of the Andes. They were conquered by the Aztecs about a century before the Spaniards showed up BUT their taste for wearing and eating Chinchillas lived on.

Maybe those guys had beards like that?

Maybe it looks like the beard you'd have if you strapped a Chinchilla under your chin. Which sounds like a highly worthwhile adventure, if you ask me. And if you don't care about my opinion, I must question why you're reading this.

I don't know. If anyone has any answers, I'd like to hear them.

EDIT:

A mystery solved?

Mum pointed out to me an article about a Beard Growing Competition in a town in Queensland, Australia called Chinchilla. The town, it seems, is named after an Aboriginal word for a kind of vine. BUT a "famous" resident was an explorer by the name of Ludwig Leichhardt. Apparently he disappeared and was never found again. The important thing here, though, is his Great Bushy Beard.

If he instilled in the town of Chinchilla a sense of Beardy Pride, could it be that it's fame creeped out like some insidious fungus? Much like the name Sideburns coming from General Burnsides?

Mum also suggested that perhaps the Chinchilla Beard is rather soft. I would guess that hard to infer from Sight, although it's possible Holmes walked up to the man and caressed his beard.

Also, holy crap, check out Henrik Ibsen's Sideburns.

And also, a handy list of Facial Hairs.

Ron Paul: Not That Great

Ron Paul has created a lot of buzz by being conservative but wanting to end our Iraq occupation. He also supports getting rid of the Federal Income Tax. That's kinda neat. Also cool? He opposes the War on Drugs.

I think he opposes it for the wrong reasons, but opposition is opposition.

But he's not that great. He wants to build a 700 mile wall on the Mexican Border, because the only immigrants we want sneaking in are Canadians and those who know how to swim. He's pro-life, but I don't think he expects other people to also be. However, he introduced the Sanctity of Life Act which would repeal the federal effects of Roe V. Wade and leave it all up to the states. He personally believes that marriage should be man and woman. He doesn't think there needs to be a federal definition as such, but that each state can go ahead and do that if it wants. Paul doesn't want federal courts hearing matters about any of those things. He opposes the Patriot Act but he also opposes Gun Control.

He supports pulling out of NATO and the UN. That scares me.

Basically, why Ron Paul isn't that great, or even great at all, I'd say, is that being a hermit doesn't work. It seems that his basic strategy would be to be that kid who shuts his eyes, puts his fingers in his ears and yells, "LA LA LA LA LA CAN'T HEAR YOU LA LA LA." There's a lot of shit that government does that sucks. But there's a lot of good. If you want to abolish all programs not specifically stated in the Constitution, you get rid of great things like LI-HEAP, Federal Housing Funding, Free and Reduced School Lunch etc. etc. These are things people really need.

He's probably a nice guy. I bet he's an ideal candidate for running something small and self-sustained. Let's give him Delaware. I don't think he should be meddling in the affairs of one of the most influential, wealthy (sort of) nations of the world. Isolationism. It doesn't help anyone.

Remember when the Ents didn't want to get involved in that big war in Lord of the Rings? And then they were fucking sideswiped and taken advantage of?

Remember how the United States was Isolationist before Pearl Harbor? Germany before WWII?

I don't know, I think Isolation just gives you a chance to go crazy and be taken advantage of. It doesn't solve problems. Ron Paul won't solve our problems.

I don't think I'm making myself completely clear. He's unfit to lead, though.