Stop the Presses!

I may just have to eat my words. Behold:

Now excuse me while I crawl up onto my desk and do this:



Huzzah! (For once I'm glad to be wrong, wrong, WRONG.)

Tootin' the Horn

Booyah!

Signs of Spring

Happy Easter!

Quick Stop

One of the young guys I work with heard me playing my new Amanda Shires CD and suggested that I'd probably like Mumford & Sons, too.



I'll be darned. He was right.

Thanks, Andy!

Drive-Bys

Giggle of the Day:

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When is an apology not an apology?

"I admit the language was inappropriate, and apologize for any affront to anyone's delicate sensibilities," Lewin wrote.

You tell me.
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It might be a better idea to post where you've been, not where you're going, on Facebook and Twitter.

Facebook and Twitter users are increasing the risk of being burgled when they announce their holiday plans online, a study has warned.

Opportunist thieves are able to track down an address from a website posting within 60 seconds, research found.

Make sure you know what your kids are posting before you head off for summer vacation!
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You and I may not be invited to the Royal Wedding, but we can eat like the royals and their guests. Here's the recipe for the cake the groom ordered up and, since it's a no-bake, just about anyone can make it.
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Apple Inc.'s iPhone and iPad are keeping very close track of where you've been.

Security researchers said they found a file hidden in the operating software of Apple's devices that can contain tens of thousands of records of a user's precise geographical location, each marked with a timestamp.

Those records create a highly detailed history of a user's whereabouts over months or even years.

The data are in an unprotected file embedded in the phone and tablet computer, the researchers said Wednesday, allowing hackers who pick up a lost iPhone or iPad access to the location history with relative ease.

The upside of this is that if you have the same information and your iPhone or iPad is stolen, you (and the police) can easily recover it.
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Signs of spectacular parenting?

“I don’t think my son’s guilty. He’s my womb child and I’m going to stand and pray for my seed.”

And...

Esther keeps a stash of documents in a folder on her living room table detailing her son’s run-ins with the law. These include the search warrants police used before searching Sonny’s apartment and car.

And...

“My son is saying he’s innocent,” she said. “The only thing he’s (guilty of) is whore-hopping.”

Charming mother, adorable son.
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Giggle of the Day:

Quick Stop

Ear Worm of the Day:



Lovely.

Quick Stops

Go here for 8 cool home remedies that actually work. (I can vouch for the spoonful of sugar. It's an old Princess Mom tried-and-true.)
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I was never a big Denise Richards fan, but I'm quickly changing my mind.

TMZ reports that Sheen's ex-wife Denise Richards has offered to let [Max and Bob] live with her until things stabilize.

Denise has been the only sane player in this whole sad farce.

And thank Jeebus the courts kept those darling boys out of Charlie's grubby mitts.
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Giggle of the Day (literally!):

Book Your Ticket

"Barmy and scary and predating Jekyll and Hyde. And written by a shepherd who barely read any books. A Scottish classic, a world classic, yet hardly anyone, writers excepted, has actually read it"

Of course I ordered it. Look for it on my April reads list.

Drive-Bys

This must be the lamest defense in all of history:

He also testified he couldn’t have “French kissed” the victim or performed oral sex on her, as she testified, because he can’t stick out his tongue due to a physical abnormality.

Oh, really? That's not what his ex said!

However, his ex-wife, Jacque Rush, testified Hamberg had French kissed and performed oral sex on her when they were married.

“I really want him to get nailed,” Rush said outside the courtroom following her testimony.

I'll just bet she does.
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So what's the weather like here? There was snow on my lawn this morning, dammit. (And it was in the 50's yesterday.)
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You know I love my Kindle, but if I loved an author's work so much that I'd want him or her to sign it, I'd want a hard copy to sit on my book shelf, I wouldn't want something signed remotely. Sorry, but meeting the author in person is the point.
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How come we never do fun stuff like this at my company?


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Ear Worm of the Day:



Yes, I ordered the CD. Amanda's got a lovely voice.
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Quick Stops

This headline is showing the paper's bias:

Valparaiso sixth-grader handcuffed over spilled milk

What he's really guilty of is assault on a police officer. Big difference.
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Good News/Bad News:

The bad news: I love my Flip, and am very sorry to see Cisco is closing them down. They're tiny, incredibly easy to use and have wonderful sound and picture quality. If you don't have one now, get one before they're gone!

The good news: The price of the Kindle is going down -- way down! I agree with Andy Ihnatko that you'll see them for under $100 soon.
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Winter is coming... SOON... and it looks like AGOT will be a hit. I can't wait!
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Think the death penalty isn't a deterrent?

"[B]efore he left Canada, the 20-year-old unemployed computer technician took the unusual step of determining that Illinois had no death penalty, prosecutors say."

Think again.
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Drive-Bys

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle on Monday moved to clean up a scandal at a forest preserve district pool involving theft and unethical employee behavior that took place on her predecessor's watch.

Calling the forest preserve district "an area of county government that has historically been overlooked," Preckwinkle said the new oversight includes additional security cameras, a new cash and credit card system, wireless access for supervision and a new employee-training program with ethics lessons.

"From my first day in office, I've made a pledge to hold my administration accountable to four key principals: fiscal responsibility, innovative leadership, transparency and accountability and improved services," she said. "These measures reflect our commitment to a new standard of oversight and accountability."

My girl-crush on her continues unabated. She promised and she's delivering.
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Federal prosecutors in New Jersey are investigating whether numerous smartphone applications illegally obtained or transmitted information about their users without proper disclosures, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The criminal investigation is examining whether the app makers fully described to users the types of data they collected and why they needed the information — such as a user’s location or a unique identifier for the phone — the person familiar with the matter said. Collecting information about a user without proper notice or authorization could violate a federal computer-fraud law.

Yikes! Maybe it's not so bad that I've hung on to my Luddite Nokia phone after all...
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Like to travel but short on the moo-la-la? Try these four tips for flying cheaper.
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From my own best pal, Mr. Bill, this funny joke:

Best friends graduated from medical school at the same time and decided that, in spite of two different specialties, they would open a practice together to share office space and personnel.

Dr. Smith was the psychiatrist, and Dr. Jones was the proctologist.

They put up a sign reading: "Dr. Smith and Dr. Jones: Hysterias and Posteriors." The town council was livid, and insisted they change it.

So, the docs changed it to read: "Schizoids and Hemorrhoids." This was also not acceptable.

Again they changed the sign. "Catatonics and High Colonics"...... No go.

Next, they tried "Manic Depressives and Anal Retentives".... Thumbs down again.

Then came "Minds and Behinds".... Still no good.

Another attempt resulted in "Lost Souls and Butt Holes".... Unacceptable again!

So they tried "Analysis and Anal Cysts".... Not a chance.

"Nuts and Butts".... No way.

"Freaks and Cheeks".... No good.

"Loons and Moons".... Forget it.

Almost at their wit's end, the docs finally came up with:

"Dr. Smith and Dr. Jones--Odds and Ends"

Everyone loved it.

[Including me!]
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Giggle of the Day:


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Spit-Take of the Day:


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Quick Stop Step

Regarding DWTS Week 3:

• Petra is sweet, but gawky. NO WAY should she have ended up in first place tonight.
• Please, please, please let Chelsea Kane dance somewhere towards the middle or end of the night. Her scores are much lower than they should be because she's being penalized by being stuck dancing early.
• Someone show Ralph what the judges mean when they talk about the hand thing. Creepy!
• Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! Please let Maks be okay!
• Who drugged the judges' water bottles tonight?

Urk. It's going to be a long season.

Book Your Ticket

My Kindle went walkabout late in February, but it made its way home again, late, and with stories to tell.

Books read in Febuary/March – 18/22:

Along Came Trouble, Sherryl Woods[1]

Wait for Me!: Memoirs, Deborah Mitford, Duchess of Devonshire[2]

A Game of Thrones, George R.R. Martin[3]

A Clash of Kings, George R.R. Martin

The Price of Everything: Solving the Mystery of Why We Pay What We Do, Eduardo Porter

Russell Wiley Is Out to Lunch, Richard Hine[4]

Always the Baker, Never the Bride, Sandra D. Bricker

You Don’t Look Like Anyone I Know, Heather Sellers

Evil for Evil: A Billy Boyle World War II Mystery, James R. Benn[5]

Agent Zigzag: A True Story of Nazi Espionage, Love, and Betrayal, Ben Macintyre

Deja Vu, Fern Michaels

My Father at 100, Ron Reagan[6]

Lifted, Evan Ratliff[7]

Loud in the House of Myself: Memoir of a Strange Girl, Stacy Pershall

Marrying Daisy Bellamy, Susan Wiggs

Hero: The Life and Legent of Lawrence of Arabia, Michael Korda

American Rose: A Nation Laid Bare: The Life and Times of Gypsy Rose Lee, Karen Abbott

The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls

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[1] After the last four books I read, I needed something a little lighter, and Woods always delivers.

[2] Simply delish on every level.

[3] Winter is coming… and so is AGOT on HBO. I had to refresh my memory a bit.

[4] Charming and very humorous. Written for little guys everywhere.

[5] This series gets better with every book.

[6] I always thought young Reagan was a miserable little shit. This book proves it.

[7] Novella.