Read Now

I love the fact that the internet allows us near instant access to lots of historical literature and books.  Thank goodness there is so much good material that is beyond the reach of intellectual propery laws.  Who needs 20th/21st Cent. writing when we have so much to read in the past.  Don't get me wrong...I like the new stuff too.  But...if you're looking for a poem or perhaps don't have the cash to spend on paper books, or owe huge library fines...you can find good books online. 

I found this site the other day...Read Print.  It's not terribly expansive and limited to fiction/poetry...but they have a simple interface and good search. 

Then there is the gigantic 18,000 title Project Gutenberg. So may books - not limited to English or even fiction or even good writer.  However, their site is not user friendly.  Still...it's easily the best of it's type one the internet.

Cool Art Site

Unleash your inner artist...or at least your scribbles...

http://www.jacksonpollock.org/

Equally funny and exhaustive collection of Bunny Suicides.

Follow Up...

NPR seems to be reporting more stories based on pop-culture and web-related material.  Case in point...the Yankee or Rebel quiz (as reported here on June 1) made it to NPR.  Check it out here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5496546

Can it really be a whole year since we had the magical corndogs of everlasting tastiness? Last year a bunch of us trekked to the Condray farm, mainly to have corndogs. These cows were just a bonus. Check the June 2005 entry for a write-up and photos. Maybe we'll get to do it again...hint, hint. :-)

If you look close you can see the fish this bird has caught.

World Cup Protest

Who thought it would be a good idea to let Budweiser be the official beer sponsor at the World Cup?  Clearly money was more of a factor than acknowledging that Germany is one of the premier beer-producing and drinking country in the world.  Because as you know...when you think of Germany and beer it's only natural to think Budweiser.  Certainly not Oktoberfest and beer halls in Munich.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5091154.stm

What I don't get is that fans aren't allowed to wear logo-wear with a different sponsor's name?  Is this what we're coming to?  It's not like the fans in the stands get lots of tv time.  Nor would I necessarily buy a product because a group of fans had a product name on their cloths.  It would be like watching a Razorback game and seeing someone in the stands with an Izod logo and thinking, "Eureka...that's exactly what I need to be the best looking Ken I can be!"

Beth and the house dancer posing for photos. Check out Beth's site here: http://www.desertfirebellydance.com/

Beth and the house belly-dancer at Epcot. She got up and did a little freestyle. Good fun....good job.

Deep Breath!!!

Choose!!!

It looks like Choose Your Own Adventures are going to return. It will be interesting to see how they modernize them. I remember reading through so many of them. So very fun. Here's the odd thing about me....as a kid I always looked for the books with fewer endings. The reason was simple (and it's not some sub-test about fate or destiny and the true lack of choice). If a COYA had 30 possible endings...and only 90 pages...then the amount of story was smaller. I always wanted more story and internal choices even if the possible endings were limited.

I still remember the first CYOA I bought...Prisoner of the Ant People. Good fun. Somehow aliens got involved in one of the endings. I need to replenish the collection so I can pass on the readings to some future little one of mine.

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.06/start.html?pg=3

Quiet and artistic scene from the Moroccan section of Epcot. No flash, just natural light. It's amazing how people were skipping the museum and history sections of the World Showcase at Epcot.

The Navy (Fleet) of Arkansas?

Sound crazy...well there is precedent on the state level...and I've know a great candidate for Fleet Admiral of Arkansas.

The actual contol room from the Apollo 11 flight. Taken apart and relocated to the big Saturn V museum at NASA. Avoid this museum at all costs; though I will share some photos periodically.

In keeping with the previous photo's tentacle theme...what is it about Ikea...another item from them with tentacle-like bits.

Cthulhu lurking about Ikea.

Jess' little sister Sara on 05/25/06, the night she graduated from high school.

Jess and I took a long weekend trip to Tulsa to check in on our property there. It's in much better condition than we had been led to believe. Actually...it's in great shape. We cleaned and painted. Slept on the floor. That's really about it. We'll be getting the gutters cleaned and the trees trimmed. The trees were amazing. The two trees in front of the house have grown very large. Branches are encroaching on the driveway. These need to be trimmed. The pecan trees in the backyard are easily 30-40 feet tall and their canopy has filled in nicely after getting swarmed by webworms a few years ago. We had initially discussed traveling back to Little Rock via F'ville but opted to get home sooner rather than later. Traveling with the Vagabond can make if difficult to pop in on friends.

Dogblogger - We'll be sure to give you a buzz when we're in Dallas with a little more time. We were trying to coordinate the trip with some friends from F'ville and the trip was a quick 1-day turnaround which gave us very limited options socially.

I know that most of the people who visit this page are based in the South but I'm surprised that everyone who responded to the Yankee/Dixie survey fell into the Dixie category (Aside from me and I promise I didn't skew my answers). Interesting.

Based on the number of comments I clearly need to post more tests and surveys.

Jess and I will be dealing with some personal things over the next few days. Will post again by Sunday.

Yankee or Rebel?

Let your words decide...

My score: 29% Dixie. You are a Yankee Doodle Dandy.

I'm actually not sure how I feel about this. I've been living in Arkansas long enough that being labeled a Yankee isn't high praise. However...I doubt I'll ever be considered Southern.

Of course this is just for fun and there is no indication on the site as to their methodology, ranking, and scoring system.