It rained here... Many Bothans had nothing to do with the rain either.

--Ben

Yeah, at least it could've rained. We need rain.

--Mike
Many Bothans died to bring you this post.

Don't feel left out. It's so overcast here right now that we can't even see the Moon, let alone the occultation. Though it's not actually raining.

Ivy

<Emily Litello>...Oh. Never mind.</Emily Litello>

Darn it, it's still raining. No fantastic celestial phenomenon for me. *sigh*

-- Mark

Mark,

Check the date again. The occultation happens on the 20th, which is TONIGHT, wed night. Jon was updating his page a little early.

Ivy

Augh! Our internet was down at work, I couldn't read AfAP and I missed the occultation! Curse you, vast, cool and unsympathetic clockwork mechanism of nature!!

Actually it rained all day, so never mind, I guess. Was it visible in Philadelphia?

-- Mark

Ivy: No, don't think you cut things off. It's very good news! And hey, Kzin, you're a crazy uncle now...

As far as the geek humor thingie, I got it, but I have to agree with Ben, it was kinda lame. (To explain: The other computer is SHODAN, the villainous AI from the System Shock games. Both SHODAN and HAL have endearing habits of going crazy on deep space missions and killing their crews. So, er, there you are. This explanation is not to be taken as approval.)

-- Mark

Ivy,

If it helps, I got it, but I don't want it.

--Ben

I didn't mean to cut the discussion off completely; I was just sharing good news. But back to the links on the main page that this group is _supposed_ to discuss, I guess I am not a true geek b/c I did not get that geek humor link at all. Totally clueless, other than the image of HAL. And Jon had to prompt me to recognize that.

Ivy

In a total change of topic - my sister Gay had a baby girl on Monday. Jon and I have a new niece named Valerie Rose Thompson. She weighed 8lbs and change upon birth. And my sister is being a typical new mom. I have a massive file in my inbox of pictures she emailed to everyone she knows.

Ivy

The true failing of liberarianism is that it fails to take into account that most people are lazy, stupid, vain, foolish, evil, or all of the above.

And you can quote me on that.

(Except for the part about people being lazy, stupid, vain, foolish, and/or evil.)

--Jon

That study you linked to doesn't surprise me, Kzin. I wish I could remember who it was that commented (as a critique on libertarianism) that most people don't even act in their own best interests, much less anyone else's. If only I had access to some sort of worldwide, searchable computer network...

-- Mark
Oh well. I guess we'll never know.

My head is not swollen, Joe.

It's a medical condition.

--Jon
Kzintianitis

"Mean" is such an ugly word, Ben. But no, I don't believe you either.

BTW, folks, there's a link on that site ("Jinnai's Otakon Pics") which takes you to a set of pics and descriptions from the 1998 LARP (aka "Don't Point That at My Planet!"). The Jinnai in question is, of course, John Hoelscher, who did such a convincing Jinnai laugh before he had to retire and preserve his vocal cords.

The fact that web pages commemorating my LARP from #four years ago# are still in existence has made my head swell to near-Kzintian* proportions. They like me! They really like me!

--Joe
*Scuttlebutt has it that the word 'Kzintian' is scheduled to be added to the OED next year. Really.

You all are mean...

Definately not, Ben.