The King of Pointland

Decoration Day

Although I have lived in the D.C. area for many years, it wasn't until today that I walked through the grounds of Arlington National Cemetery. I was there to see the final performance of Stephen Lang's one man play Beyond Glory -- in which Lang portrays seven living Medal of Honor recipients -- but I arrived an hour and a half early and decided to spend the time walking through the cemetery. I visited John F. Kennedy's grave, with its eternal flame, and his brother Robert's, marked by a small white cross, before heading to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. I arrived at 6 PM, just before the changing of the guard ceremony began. Never before had I seen a rifle so elaborately and painstakingly inspected. As the crowd watched the rigid clockwork choreography unfold, the silence was nearly perfect, but for the persistent, plaintive cicada cries emanating from the dark, hollow cage of a young girl's cupped hands. She must have captured four or five. The child's own internal struggle was amusing, for she could not quite bring herself to release the newfound pets that were bringing such unwelcome attention. Her eventual solution was to gently place the cicadas in her pocket (though that didn't quiet them at all).

When I arrived at the theater in the Women's Memorial, I selected a seat in a mostly empty row. A little while later, two gentlemen sat next to me. The one beside me was Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz.

Andi had mentioned a few hours before that he would be there, and I had decidedly mixed feelings about that, but I didn't expect to be sitting next to him. For what it's worth, he seemed to enjoy the play very much. I can only hope it gave him pause. Stephen Lang did give an amazing performance, and even though I had attended once before, it remained moving and riveting.

At the closing night reception after the play, I found myself standing by the dessert tray talking to a woman who reminded me of Allison Janney, and who I later learned was Stephen Lang's cousin. We spent several minutes discussing the history and merits of M&M coloring schemes. I have given some serious thought to this matter, and I was glad to see that others had, too. She didn't like the blue M&M's and was angry that they had apparently replaced their tan brethren. I concurred, and noted that the M&M's palette had always reminded me of autumn. Now they look like so many Skittles. Our views diverged on the matter of black-and-white M&M's, though. I like them. She doesn't. Fair enough.

Word

The other day I signed up for the Oxford English Dictionary's Word of the Day email, thinking that these would be some seriously erudite daily words, words with seven or even eight syllables if necessary.

Thursday's WOTD was "hella" (Very, exceedingly; in an extraordinary or impressive manner. Also occas. as adj.: much, a lot of. ; first citation 1987), and today it's "skank" ( A person (esp. a woman) regarded as unattractive, sleazy, sexually promiscuous, or immoral. ; first citation 1964).

Cicada Redux

I added a few new photographs to the cicada album, including all nude cicada-on-cicada action. You might also notice I figured out how to preserve the EXIF data, so you can see when the pictures were taken, and what F-stop I used. Now please stop sending me all those "So what F-stop did you use?" emails.

Did anybody catch the most excellent cicada story on the NewsHour last night? Duh, of course you did. NewsHour regular Jeffrey Brown interviewed the University of Maryland's own Mike Raupp. I was not aware that Brood X actually includes three different species, each with a distinct mating song. You can hear them if you listen to the story at the link above. This helps the males attract females of their own species. I think it would be totally kinky if a female from one species got it on with a male from another. There ought to be a magazine dedicated to this fetish. To steal a joke from Shannon: Brood XXX Enthusiast -- published 17-yearly since 1885.

And yes, Kan, they're everywhere.

Bush Discovered to be Evil Cyborg

Reuben Bolling, you magnificent bastard. You've done it again.

Apple Ghraib

Very clever.

Greg Heffley's Journal

Woo hoo!

From Jeff Kinney, the creator of Igdoof, comes the story of a young man at the dawn of an uncertain age: adolescence. Armed with only pen, paper, and keen powers of observation, this awkward seventh grader is sure to entertain and delight all who follow his daily musings, faithfully recorded in Greg Heffley's Journal.

Get in on the ground floor, people.

Forty Days Before Thirty-One Days After the Day After Tomorrow

Interesting conundrum: is it OK to use a movie with at best dubious scientific foundation to raise legitimate concerns of global warming?

Cicada Revue

Here are some photos I took yesterday morning and early this morning (1 AM). It's not very often one gets to see the cicadas before they darken.

Are they gross? Maybe. But they are so cool! And the wings? Beautiful.

Cicadas!

Well, they're out, as you may have noticed. Here is a great source of information. I've been wondering why I can't hear them yet. Apparently they're in their teneral stage, where their exoskeletons are hardening.

Folded!

I simply cannot wait to do laundry after seeing this.

Yes, the dollar shirt is cool, too.

Snackboy: 1972 - 2004

Bye, Terry. You were one of the funniest and most entertaining people I've had the pleasure of knowing. I wish we hadn't lost touch.

LIVE Friends Finale Update!

Experiment

Busy? Then skip this. There's no payoff, and little point.

OK, go get a watch or a timer or something with a second hand, or have a friend count off "One Mississippi, two Mississipi, ...".

Ready? OK, and . . . start the timer!

Now: go to www.adobe.com. Find the main product page for Adobe Illustrator. Once you're there, stop the timer. Write down how long that took. If you're reading this sentence and you haven't started the timer, then I hate you, because I told you to start the timer and you didn't listen to me.

At this point, please reset the timer. Is it reset? Good. And GO!!! That means start the timer again!

Now: go to Google and find the main product page for Adobe Illustrator. Once you're there, stop the timer. Write down how long that took.

I don't know what my point is, other than that I gave up looking after about 15 seconds, and just Googled it. That's not even a point, is it? Please make up a point for me.

Yes, I now know how to get there from the Adobe home page in two clicks, so I guess I'm just a dummy.