I miss Brazil!

Speaking of Brazil, Bush was in Sao Paulo yesterday.  In his speech he said, "I'm here today to tell you that America is generous and compassionate..."

Gee, remember when the world used to think that about us, without some troglodyte (aka the American president, not Bin Laden) telling them?? 

How truly sad and what an unfortunate sign of the times.

Hey what a picture! Thanks a lot!
That must have been some time ago but I think
we both are timeless gorgeous beauties,
don't you agree?

I very much hope to see you soon!
Mick persuaded me to travel with her to the Himalayas in
autumn and after that we plan to move to Munich.
Be assured you are on the celebrity guestlist for the
house-warming party.

Miggl
QOLS, Blackett Laboratory
Imperial College London
Prince Consort Road

-----Original Message-----
From: Carey
Sent: Tue 3/13/2007 8:16 AM
To: Miggl
Cc: Michaela
Subject: Oh Happy Day

Miggl

Happy Birthday to you my friend.  I hope your birthday is as spectacular as you are my friend.  Beijos!!

From the Washington Post, via today's San Diego Union Tribune.

GENE WEINGARTEN

They're a riddle, wrapped in the flag, inside an enigma

According to a recent survey, 17 percent of the American public "stronglyapproves" of the job that George W. Bush is doing. Not just approves, but strongly approves. I found those numbers interesting, but incomplete. Don't you want to know who those people are? What sorts of lives they lead? How they make their judgments? I think we can safely presume that about one-tenth of 1 percent of these people are plutocrats, al-Qaeda sleeper cell agents, Lockheed Martin executives, vice presidents of the United States, etc. But what about the rest? In the interest of fair and responsible journalism, and without any preconceived biases, I have created a poll to scientifically analyze this group of Americans. Please do not answer the questions below unless you"strongly approve" of the job President Bush is doing.

1. How do you think the war in Iraq is going?

a) Splendidly

b) Very well, indeed

c) Quite nicely, thank you

d) Pretty darned OK

2. How would you rate the president's handling of Hurricane Katrina?

a) Masterful

b) Super

c) Four stars

d) Very, very good

3. What is the biggest problem facing America today?

a) People criticizing President Bush

b) Discrimination against shotgun enthusiasts

c) Sissies

4. How do you pronounce "America"?

a) Murka

b) Other

5. What is your first name?

a) Elmer

b) Lucille (Sorry Aunty LuLu :))

c) Other

6. What is your preferred method of deflecting alien mind-control beams?

a) Wearing an aluminum-foil hat

b) Replacing metal tooth fillings with composite

c) Chanting while naked

d) Shooting into the air toward suspected mother ships

7. What is your primary source of news?

a) Cow behavior, caterpillar activity, tree-moss changes, etc.

b) What my common-law spouse heard at bingo

c) Homeland Security color-alert changes

d) The Bible

8. How many cars does your family own?

a) Three to five

b) Six to nine

c) 10 to 14

d) 15 or more

9. Of those cars, how many are not on blocks in your yard?

a) One

b) None

10. If you were a Renaissance-era poem, what meter would you be in?

a) Iambic pentameter

b) Anapestic hexameter

c) Trochaic heptameter, with a single spondaic foot

d) Just kidding! Go on to the next question.

11. What is your favorite sport?

a) Huntin'

b) Fishin'

c) Rasslin'

d) Hot dog-eatin' contests

12. What is your current field of employment?

a) Hubcap brokerage

b) Scrap metal redemption

c) Driveway resurfacing and refrigerator repair and auto detailing andseptic tank servicing

d) License plate manufacturing at a correctional institution

13. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

a) I'd like to be able to be weighed without the use of a forklift and truckscale.

b) I'd like to own my own TV instead of renting.

c) I'm OK with just the two teeth, but I'd like 'em to touch.

d) I'd like to be smart, like George W. Bush.

Please send your answers to Tony Snow, Office of the Press Secretary,Washington, D.C.

Gene Weingarten's e-mail address is weingarten@washpost.com.

The Washington Post Writers Group

Find this article at: http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20070218/news_lz1c18riddle.html

Tyson and I went out for a nice Italian dinner tonight, but first I took this video of him solving the Rubik's Cube in 19 seconds in my living room (for all you naysayers!).  It's so impressive to watch him do this in person.  He's still recognized from TV frequently and is heading to a toy fair in NYC tonight to do his thing. I'm still working on it myself, but luckily I have a good teacher!  Have a safe flight Tyson! (If this video doesn't work, you can view it on my Videoblog above)

This is a great shot of Tyson, but I look deranged...and tired!

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenneger is considering a bill to ban the sale of incandescent light bulbs.  Arnold isn't worried about saving energy, he's just tired of trying to say the word "incandescent" --Conan O'Brian

Terror Alert raised to Maniacal

Tomorrow is the first anniversary of Vice President Dick Cheney's famous hunting accident.  To honor the occasion, the Texas legislature is considering an amendment to an existing law that would permit legally blind people to hunt.  I kid you not.

REDNECKS 

Meet "The Right Brothers" no, not Orville and Wilbur; but Frank Highland and Aaron (in?)Saine, a Tennessee right-wing Christian band who are supposedly "Linkin Park wannabes".  Their canon includes "Stop Global Whining" and "I'm in Love With Ann Coulter" (which is "scarily" catchy  with lyrics like: "I'm in love with Ann Coulter, all I want to do is hold her. And have her read her books to me, just like she does in my dreams. ROTFL).  But their "finest" moment is "Bush Was Right" a redneck version of Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire".

Apparently they are quite popular in the right wing blogospere.  When I first heard about them, I assumed they were an "act" like Stephen Colbert, and mockingly pretending to be extreme right wing conservatives to showcase how ridiculous the extreme right can be.  To add to the fray, their lyrics mimic those of Weird Al Yankovic, which lend credence to the entire act being a hilarious send up.  However, the more I researched, the more they appear to be for real, and have a real conservative following.  Very strange but true.  Click below to hear a song.  Warning:  You might not be able to get it out of your head.  Maybe they're secretly hypnotizing people?  LOL (if the music player below isn't showing up, press F5 on your PC.  Not sure why it's fussy.)

The iPhone was announced today.  I can't believe I paid $500 for a Pocket PC phone 5 years ago, that broke within a year.  I'm still reluctant to be an early adopter with this, as you know they'll get better and cheaper (Can you believe my brother thinks it's ugly??  What's up with that??).  I think it looks good. (Although the video phones they have in Asia are even cooler.  If you've been to Tokyo recently, or you've seen the movie "Babel" you know what I'm talking about.)  It sucks that America is so far behind with these technologies.  I've often wondered why, and I think it's because of the sheer size of our country.  The bigger the country the longer it takes to build the infrastructure to support the technology.  I believe that's true of China as well (though the big cities probably have the infrastructure, and the small ones can't even afford the technology).  The text message craze in Asia was in full swing nearly 10 years ago, and it really didn't catch on in America until the last couple of years.  I remember buying my boss a new phone last Christmas, and sending him the first text message he ever received. 

"This week at the big consumer electronics show in Las Vegas, Apple unveiled their first combination ipod and cell phone. They say their goal is to create the most annoying person ever to sit behind you in a movie theater." -- Jay Leno

Bill Maher has a great "New Rules" about how America must stop bragging that it is #1.  I so agree with this.  Not to sound unpatriotic, but if there's anything my world travels have shown me (especially since 9/11) is how the rest of the world sees us.  I'd like to think that I'm an ambassador for this country in some small way, but lately even my friends overseas have surprised me with random comments bashing America.  Surely they can allow for the fact that just because I'm American, I don't necessarily have to support my president's foolish policies.  (And yes, he is my president even though I never voted for him.  You have to respect the office though.  Admittedly 2008 can't come soon enough!)  I'm glad the opinion tide here in the US is turning regarding Iraq.  It will be interesting to see the reaction to tonight's State of the Union speech.  In the meantime, enjoy this great video:

Here's another video from Rain (Korean pop sensation, Jung Ji Hoon), just because I really like it, and Xanga doesn't have him in their "Currently Listening" song list   Apparently he just canceled his concert in Bangkok because of some bombing on New Year's Eve.  This is a really slick video.  Kind of evokes Michael Jackson when he was cool.