Department of "no kidding"

Get ready to act really surprised: Richard Chamberlain fesses up to being gay. (I don't know, maybe there are people who are surprised. But I think the gay community has had it figured out for, oh, forty years or so.)

Nigerian spam

Hey, someone's actually prosecuting Nigerian e-mail spammers. (Someone Nigerian, even. It's the country's new, and long-overdue, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.) Among the charges is that a Dutchman was scammed of $1.7 million. Um...how dumb was that Dutchman? Is he interested in buying the Brooklyn Bridge?

Justice and/or the law

Good week for catching evil killer scum: first the Louisiana serial killer, now the Olympic Park et al. bomber. Now all we need is for them to meet in prison and kill each other, and that'll be two problems solved. (Okay, okay, alleged evil killer scum.)



Also, Florida finally repealed that awful "Scarlet Letter" adoption law. (The one that required women who wanted to put children up for adoption and who didn't know who the father was to publish a newspaper ad describing themselves and when, where, and with whom they had sex, even if they were underage or victims of rape.) Certainly, it is a good thing that the lawmakers removed their heads from their asses long enough to repeal the stupid law (and even before this, they added a provision that it didn't apply to rape victims); it is, however, a bad thing that it got passed in the first place. Especially when you consider this quote from the New York Times article on it:

When the original legislation was approved, many lawmakers who voted for it said later that they did not read it thoroughly and were unaware that it contained the publication provision.

Great...so we've got legislators who are passing laws that drive women to humiliation, depression, despair, and sometimes even abortion, which actually hinder the adoption process, because they didn't read the fucking law in the first place. Jeez! There should be some kind of pop quiz for lawmakers: you have to answer ten questions about the law you're about to vote on, and if it turns out you don't know enough about it, you're not allowed to vote. Or you have to sit there and read it right then, with someone standing over you and checking your work. If I had to read every damn word of Catcher in the Rye to pass my freshman English class, they should have to read every word to pass a law.

Title of the day

In the endnotes of an article about wine in the New Testament: Courtesans and Fishcakes. Hm. Is it either-or, or can you get them together? How about to go?



As J. would say, the possibilities are mindless...

Say "cheese"

Via Presurfer: an experiment by the Laugh Lab (the people who brought you the "funniest joke in the world" experiment) on whether you can tell a real from a fake smile. Much to my surprise, I correctly identified ten out of ten. Gosh. I had no idea I could read people, or at least photographs of people, that well.

Friday Five

1. What do you most want to be remembered for?



Causing no intentional harm, and remaining true to my principles; and, hopefully, having principles that are, and remain, fair and honest.



(And writing good novels that actually get published, but I don't know if I'll be able to make that happen.)



2. What quotation best fits your outlook on life?



"Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better."—Samuel Beckett (cheerful, I know).



3. What single achievement are you most proud of in the past year?



Not having a complete nervous breakdown due to the stress of planning my wedding.



4. What about the past ten years?



Getting an A on a paper from Harold Bloom—a paper he didn't even agree with. (It compared the roles of Shylock and Antonio in The Merchant of Venice; the title was "'Which is the merchant here, and which the Jew?': Antonio, Shylock, and the Merchandise of Venice.")



5. If you were asked to give a child a single piece of advice to guide them through life, what would you say?



Know that you don't know everything, but trust what you know that you know.

Out and about

Took advantage of the nice weather to walk home; it's about a mile. My feet hurt, but not too much. Now I've got the blinds up and the windows open, affording me a lovely view of the backs of the houses across the alley, but, more importantly, sunlight and fresh air. (As fresh as air can be in South Philly, anyway.)



Once saw a guy jogging on the Platt Bridge, over the refineries and the sewage treatment center; couldn't help wondering if it was counterproductive, or at least counterbalancing.