Quirky - Odd News and Niches on the Web

2002-07-29T14:57:00.000-05:00

I called AFLBS, and they said I was practically in. There are just a couple more papers to file and then they can send me a letter.

2002-07-26T12:38:00.000-05:00

A quilt pattern named after me!

2002-07-24T10:55:00.000-05:00

Laser Games

2002-07-17T10:09:00.000-05:00

Darwin Awards

Faulty Aim Fatal
2002 Darwin Award Nominee
Confirmed True by Darwin
(7 March 2002, Colorado) When Gerald was pulled over by police for erratic driving, he decided it was better to flee from the stolen car on foot, rather than face possible jail time for a parole violation. This was the first of two successive mental lapses. Gerald’s actual thoughts are unknown, but *may* have been something like this: "The officers are only suspicious and alert now... I’ll make them hot, sweaty, tired, and angry by leading them on a wild chase through dark alleys and fields."
During the subsequent foot chase, Gerald attempted to dissuade officers from the pursuit by firing a 9mm Ruger semiautomatic handgun blindly over his shoulder. This was the second illustration of a potential mental deficiency. "Officers are running behind me. They have guns. I have a gun! They have eyes in the front of their heads, so they can see to aim at me. I don't have eyes in the back of my head, so I’ll fire wildly behind me and see what happens!"

Unfortunately, Gerald appears to have been one of those folks who can't chew gum and walk at the same time. Or at least he couldn’t flee and fire at the same time. While discharging the weapon over his shoulder, Gerald managed to shoot himself in the head with his own gun, bringing the chase to a sudden conclusion.

Four shots were fired, none by the officers, who found Gerald's pistol next to his fallen body. Gerald was transported to a local hospital where he expired the following day, thus removing a set of genes deficient in both judgment and coordination from the gene pool.

DarwinAwards.com © 1994-2002
Submitted by: Ernie Shumaker, Dan Rolls
Reference: Colorado Gazette Telegraph, 9news.com

2002-07-15T15:31:00.000-05:00

CNN.com - She'll say the pledge - July 12, 2002

2002-07-15T15:11:00.000-05:00

The Pledge of Allegiance - A Short History

2002-07-15T12:04:00.000-05:00

Complete Computer Cover

2002-07-15T11:57:00.000-05:00

Flash Arcade: Games Index

2002-07-15T11:42:00.000-05:00

Urban Legends Reference Pages

2002-07-14T00:18:00.000-05:00

I had a great time at Genny's wedding. It was really really weird now that I'm single. With both Stacie and Genny married now, and Amanda getting married at the end of the summer, I felt like an old maid for the first time in my life. Of course since I'm only twenty it will be fine, there are plenty of guys out there, but it was scary to feel like that, even just for a little while.

2002-07-13T10:31:00.000-05:00

Thursday sick, Friday left early to go home. The idea was to avoid traffic, but I swear traffic on a Friday going out of town starts at 6:00am. Today is Genny's wedding.

2002-07-10T14:40:00.000-05:00

Google Press Center: Zeitgeist

2002-07-09T08:40:00.000-05:00

I took an extended weekend from work. Which means I took off Wednesday and Friday in addition to getting Thursday off because of the holiday. It was great. The only bad thing was that I had to move and I hate moving and packing and sorting and throwing, but it was worth it. All I have left in Mayville is two pictures that I forgot. I'll pick them up next weekend.

Thursday I went shopping with Mom, we got some crafty stuff and it was a lot of fun just the two of us. That doesn't happen very often so I appreciated it all the more.

Friday was family reunion, sitting around talking to old people who were related to me through five or six people. I guess it could have been worse. Then I took Peter to the school and showed him all the important places. I loved post-secondary but I don't know if he's going to. I'd really like it if he did, but he's a different person than me. Friday night I went out with Mike and Kevin. It was good to catch up, but I got all the really hard questions because I'm going to Bible School. I just started refusing to answer after a while, because most of the time it was "I don't know." or "It's not possible to know." They were just baiting me anyway.

Saturday was home and family then I went over to Jeremy's and visited. It was really fun to talk to his mom. We got into the subject of marriage, which is something she's really into right now because she's leading a Bible Study at church. We talked about being submissive, which is a huge thing for most women because the feminist in them rears up and says, "Whoa, no one has to submit here! EQUALITY!!!" At least that's what happens to me when I hear that word. The idea is that the wife and the husband discuss a decision but the husband is the one who makes it with the wife's input. I had a huge problem with that, until I realized, it's just about trusting your husband to be fair to you. However that is a huge amount of trust, more than I've ever had in any relationship. Maybe someone has deserved that trust, but I've never allowed myself to give it. I don't know if I could right now. Anyway, I now have an easy standard for picking a husband. That night Jeremy and I went to the Marcoux Corner concert. It was amazing how they can be totally acapella, and yet have such a full sound. It was great because we had a classic car. (I'm not entirely sure of the details and I know I would mangle them.) We were going to go to the drive in theater, but the car's battery died. We drove all the way home to switch vehicles than all the way back into town and went to the movie in a normal theater. Needless to say I got to bed late.

Sunday...church. Pastor Tim was on vacation so instead of a sermon it was just open for people to give testimonies. I got up and told about Bible School. My hands were shaking but everyone could hear me. It was one of those things where I just had to get up and talk. After church we went out for pizza and Jeremy and I left about three. The traffic coming into town could have been a lot worse with everyone coming back from their Fourth vacations and all, but it wasn't too bad.

That brings us to today, which is as normal as normal can be. Work is usual, I have something to do, but I'm making it last for a while because that doesn't happen often. I only have to be here for another half hour and then I can go to the library and Barnes & Noble before a night spent quietly in my apartment. I've loved seeing everyone at home but I'm looking forward to spending some time by myself.

2002-07-08T10:07:00.000-05:00

Smallpox Vaccine Program Readied (washingtonpost.com)

2002-07-08T10:02:00.000-05:00

eBay buying online payment provider PayPal

2002-07-08T09:58:00.000-05:00

'Surrendered wife' turns her attention to single women

2002-07-02T08:36:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I got off work, e-mailed my application to Bible School, and went to bed. I was so tired I wasn't sleepy, but after two minutes of TV I dropped off. I had hoped to sleep the whole night through, but I was awakened by the horrible blair of the fire alarm. So I got up, put clothes on that I hoped didn't look too sloppy (but probably did) grabbed my Zaurus and my Bible and went outside. There were people out there, but it didn't seem like enough to be everyone that was in the building. I wonder how many people actually stayed inside. Of course there were a few obvious people coming out with their hair wet or hair messed up a few minutes after the rest of us. Then there were the firemen, who hopefully knew that there wasn't a raging inferno inside the building because they got out of the fire truck slowly and then put on their jackets and strolled inside with walkie talkies. After several minutes I saw them carry in a big fan. Either they decided the fire was small enough to 'blow out' or else they wanted to make it bigger so there was something interesting to fight.

Actually what had happened was some stupid kid had set off one of those fireworks that creates a lot of smoke. Aparently it's fun to set off fireworks inside. I could smell the smoke when I went back to my apartment. The fireman who hadn't bothered to put on his uniform told us we could go back in. It then took me forever to go back to sleep.

2002-07-02T07:56:00.000-05:00

Man who sued over Pledge of Allegiance bugged by lots of things in society

http://www.startribune.com/stories/1557/3028264.html

2002-07-01T13:15:00.000-05:00

Pixie
Very interesting game

2002-07-01T10:37:00.000-05:00

Big Idea's Jonah -- a VeggieTales Movie
Coming Soon this Fall!!!

2002-07-01T09:31:00.000-05:00

I am having a wonderful day at work. I can't sit still for more than twenty seconds without nodding off. Since it was up to 98 yesterday I stayed at Jeremy's all day. Then when it was time to go, Jeremy's room mate Durwood (I don't know where that nickname came from) and I started visiting. Actually it was more a making fun of Jeremy session. It was great. We all visited until about 3am when we put in a movie. At five I left and got ready, before meeting Jeremy for breakfast. Now I'm at work with no sleep. I may claim sick and go home. (No mom, I really won't) However if my air conditioner isn't fixed it will be hot there and I'd be better off staying here where it is cool. I told them it needed fixing on Sat but they wouldn't fix it until today (Monday).

2002-06-27T13:57:00.000-05:00

Cow falls on car, driver injured

http://www.startribune.com/stories/1551/3020954.html

What really is there to say?

2002-06-13T10:02:00.000-05:00

Flood Control

http://www2.uclick.com/client/sto/yh/

A terribly addicting game.

2002-06-12T16:26:00.000-05:00

Tomatoes as Bug Repllent?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_2037000/2037822.stm

Maybe we should try this in Minnesota

2002-06-12T16:17:00.000-05:00

More Data

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_2040000/2040197.stm

I was amazed when I could carry around one book on my handheld computer. Now I can easily carry around several and have plenty of room left over. What's next? A complete yet pocket size encyclopdia?

2002-06-12T16:07:00.000-05:00

Students may face charges in roadkill collecting contest

http://www.startribune.com/stories/1557/2896688.html

I really hope this wasn't school sponsered.

2002-06-12T16:03:00.000-05:00

Police Dog Accused of Racial Profiling

http://www.startribune.com/stories/1557/2896684.html

My first reaction to this was how ridiculous. For a dog to racially profile, he would have to be trained to do it, which would make his trainer the one who was racially profiling. However, if consistently this drug sniffing dog found drugs on black people, could that train him enough so he would attack a black person over a white person?

Your views?