Do Your Favourite Rock/Pop Musicians Have a Planet Named After Them?

Here is a listing for all the minor planets which have been named after contemporary popular musicians. As the site explains, "Classical composers have been honored with minor planets since the early 20th century, but contemporary musicians have been overlooked. In the past few years, this imbalance between classical and contemporary musicians has been addressed by a new generation of astronomers who wish to acknowledge the music that has influenced them" Some of the musicians honoured include Enya, Jerry Garcia, John Lennon, the Rolling Stones, Carlos Santana, and Frank Zappa. There are links to articles about each of the minor planets. Via Vitamin Q.

Not chic? Quel horreur!

Virginie Mouzat, Fashion Editor at Le Figaro, has written an article called "Très chic? Mais non!" in which she tells us that French women, long considered to be the most stylish people on earth, are anything but. She outlines what she says is the usual way of dressing, and marvels that, in her mind, it doesn't match their reputation. Mouzat says, "This is the nation that invented style — or the nation with the good sense to bother claiming to have invented style. The English language hasn’t even got a word for chic. So the greatest marvel of all is why the nation as a whole exhibits so little of either." She laments what she sees as their lack of style, and tries to think of a reason why it might be so. She thinks that "It’s as if their ability to intellectualise fashion and discuss it in the abstract — taxi drivers in Paris can give you an up-to-date resumé of Karl Lagerfeld or hold forth on the relative merits of Gaultier or McQueen — excuses them from actually having to follow anything as foolish and Anglo-Saxon as a trend." It's an interesting article. Perhaps, however, what she wants to see is simply a non-French idea of French chic. Via Arts and Letters Daily.

Dick Cheney In Hotels

The Smoking Gun certainly can be a source of interesting information (they broke the James Frey story). Recently they obtained the U.S. vice-president's hotel requirements. He doesn't appear to be too high maintenance, as the Smoking Gun acknowledges: "While the vice president's requests are pretty modest (no extract-the-brown-M&M demands here), Cheney does like his suite at a comfy 68 degrees. And, of course, all the televisions need to be preset to the Fox News Channel (what, you thought he was a Lifetime devotee?). Decaf coffee should be ready upon his arrival along with four cans of caffeine-free Diet Sprite." However, there is one eyebrow-raising clause: "If the Hotel would like to put a gift in the Suite please let the Advance Office know ASAP." Hmm. Hinting for a gift. Mr. Cheney's staffers might like to hire Miss Manners as a consultant. Via Moby.

One Hotel I'd Boycott

Last week Erika Ritter was sitting in for Tom Allen on Music and Company. She told the story of a hotel in Germany that charged people according to their weight. I was astonished, so I did a Google search, and sure enough, I found a Reuters article titled "German Hotel Charges Guests By the Kilo". The story says, "In the town of Norden, close to the Dutch border, guests now have to step onto the scales before moving into their rooms and fork out half a euro (35 pence) per kilogram (2.2 lbs)." The owner of the three-star hotel gives as his reason for doing this that he wants people to become healthy, the implication being that if their weight is publicly brought to their attention, they will change their ways. I don't know—I consider this to be a shocking invasion of privacy and an insensitive gimmick. The owner says that he will never charge more than a standard night's rate for a single room. Yippee for him.

The Blog of Death

Despite its morbid name, The Blog of Death is a site I plan to visit regularly. This blog posts fairly complete obituaries on famous people who have died. Recently, Octavia Butler, Don Knotts, and Dana Reeves have been featured. This blog also featured an obituary on Andreas Katsulas, the actor whose death was (I think) under-reported in the blogosphere. Via Word Pangs through Books, Inq.

Superman And Jesus

A new initiative in British education will see Hollywood heroes used to help children understand Christianity. According to Helen Cook of the Sheffield Hallam University, “We teach a generation for whom religious symbol, myth and story are sometimes meaningless. Around 40 per cent of teenagers visit the cinema once a month. It’s hardly surprising that their assessments of what’s heroic and evil, possible and impossible are partly based on the world experienced through TV and film.” Sixteen teachers are learning how to incorporate film characters into their religious education lessons. Apparently "school children will be told that Superman is like Jesus because both arrived on earth in usual circumstances after being sent here by their fathers, both move from relative obscurity as a child to a more prominent adulthood, both help the humans they are sent to live with and both struggle to stand up for truth against injustice and evil." For the complete article, click here. Via Ruth Gledhill.

A Site For Bird Lovers

I am fond of birds in a casual kind of way—my husband and I feed them in the winter time, and I appreciate birdsong when I hear it (especially the meadowlark's). However, it had never occurred to me that there would be blogs by birders, but of course there are. Here's one called 10,000 Birds. Among many other things, it gives you the opportunity to buy a bumper sticker that says, "I Brake For Birds." The bloggers here also manage a carnival (a collection of good blog posts) for birders called I and the Bird. Here's a description of this carnival: "I and the Bird is a carnival celebrating the interaction of human and avian, an ongoing exploration of the endless fascination with birdlife all around the world. It is also a biweekly showcase of the best bird writing on the web published on alternating Thursdays." Via The Modulator.

For Those Of Us Who Are Easily Amused

Do you have a little time on your hands? Check out the Big Red Button. Go on. Click on the button. You'll know when it's time to stop! Via Quotidian Hell.

Momento Mori

The Death Clock site bills itself as "The Internet's friendly reminder that life is slipping away." The site gives you a place to fill in your height, weight, sex, and body mass index, and then calculates how much longer you have to live (barring the unexpected). According to this site, my day of death is Saturday, 27 February, 2038, at which time I'd be 77. This site is a little more popular than I would have guessed, given the morbid nature of the subject. You can buy Death Clock T-shirts or download a Death clock screensaver. There is also a list of death-related quotations; here's one by Jean Cocteau: "Since the day of my birth, my death began its walk. It is walking toward me, without hurrying."

The Worst Sound In the World

Some diligent researchers at the University of Salford (a Greater Manchester University) are looking for the worst sound in the world, and they'd like our help in deciding what it is. If you're feeling up to it, you can go to The Hunt For the Worst Sound In The World, listen to their sounds, and rate them. I didn't work through all of the sounds, just the first few, but they weren't so bad. There were sounds of a baby crying, nails on a blackboard, a chain saw. Apparently I have a higher tolerance than some people, though—things that I would rate at a 1 (the lowest reaction on the scale) got an average score of 3.3. I don't know if they have the sounds that really bug me: things like people chewing with their mouths open or cracking gum. I'm not sure I could stand to listen to that long enough to rate it. Via That Rabbit Girl.

Some Of These Sound Familiar

There are more than a few familiar items at the very funny site Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued About. As the intro says, "Nothing keeps a relationship on its toes so much as lively debate. Fortunate, then, that my girlfriend and I agree on absolutely nothing. At all.Combine utter, polar disagreement on everything, ever, with the fact that I am a text-book Only Child, and she is a violent psychopath, and we're warming up. Then factor in my being English while she is German, which not only makes each one of us personally and absolutely responsible for the history, and the social and cultural mores of our respective countries, but also opens up a whole field of sub-arguments grounded in grammatical and semantic disputes and, well, just try saying anything and walking away." Here are some of the things they have argued about that my husband and I have argued about, would have argued about if we hadn't exercised superhuman restraint, or likely will argue about at some time in the future: · "The way one should cut a Kiwi Fruit in half (along its length or across the middle). · I eat two-fingered Kit-Kats like I'd eat any other chocolate bars of that size, i.e., without feeling the need to snap them into two individual fingers first. Margret accused me of doing this, 'deliberately to annoy her'. · Which way - the distances were identical - to drive round a circular bypass (this resulted in her kicking me in the head from the back seat as I drove along). · Which type of iron to buy (price wasn't an issue, it was the principle, damnit). · Shortly after every single time Margret touches my computer, for any reason whatsoever, I have to spend twenty minutes trying to fix crashes, locked systems, data loses, jammed drives, bizarre re-configurations and things stuck in the keyboard. There then follows a free and frank exchange of views with, in my corner, 'It's your fault,' and, in hers, 'It's a curious statistical anomaly.' · She wants to paint the living room yellow. I have not the words. · Margret doesn't like to watch films on the TV. No, hold on - let me make sure you've got the inflection here: Margret doesn't like to watch films on the TV. She says she does, but years of bitter experience have proven that what she actually wants is to sit by me while I narrate the entire bleeding film to her. 'Who's she?', 'Why did he get shot?', 'I thought that one was on their side?', 'Is that a bomb' - 'JUST WATCH IT! IN THE NAME OF GOD, JUST WATCH IT!' The hellish mirror-image of this is when she furnishes me, deaf to my pleading, with her commentary. Chair-clawing suspense being assaulted mercilessly from behind by such interjections as, 'Hey! Look! They're the cushions we've got.', 'Isn't she the one who does that tampon advert?' and, on one famous occasion, 'Oh, I've seen this - he gets killed at the end.'" Brighten your day. Drop by and eavesdrop. Via Solutions for today's Magician/concrete salesman

Women's Input Sought

If you're a woman and willing to answer a few questions, Cara Winsor Hehir is looking for your help. She is a visual artist who is beginning work on a new project, and she's looking for women's input in order to do it. She explains what she's looking for as follows: "I am proposing to create an exhibit that will express how women feel about their bodies. I will write a series of short essays and craft mixed medium works to accompany each essay. I will interview women, through questionnaires, of all different body types, and arrange discussion groups, both in person and online, where women can gather to discuss weight, self esteem and other “female” issues, and hopefully have some fun." If you can spare a few minutes to help her, here's her questionnaire. Once you've finished it, you can E-mail it to her; you can find her E-mail address in the "profile" section of her blog. Via Alone On a Boreal Stage and Unmanageable Imaginations.

Interfaith Calendar

I've just learned that today is St. Joseph's Day in the Christian religious calendar. Tomorrow is Ostara (in the northern hemisphere) in the Wicca/Neo Pagan calendar, and Tuesday is Norooz (New Year) for Zoroastrians. This information, and much more, is available at the Interfaith Calendar site. This site not only has religious calendars from now until 2010, there is also a link to other matters religious for various faiths (such as religion and food). In addition to the major religions (such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, and Christianity), this site covers the lesser-known faiths such as Zoroastrian, Shinto, Daoism, Jain, Sikh, and Native American beliefs. Via Neat New Stuff On The Web.

Internet Dreaming

Leonardo Solaas has put together a website where a visitor can enter a word indicating which subject he/she would like to see in an internet dream. The site then presents images (the dream). Solaas explains it in his artist's statement: "The system looks in the Web for images related to those words, and takes them as input to generate an ambiguous painting, in perpetual change, where elements fuse into one another, in a process analogous to memory and free association. . . . . Who is dreaming? The user, or the Internet itself? In a certain way, both. The program generates a personal moving picture, unique, unpredictable, and forever gone when it is finished, just like dreams. But that dream is made out of pieces taken form the subconscious of the whole net, gathered by some words of the user and the obscure logic of searching algorithms. The subject of this work is, many times, multiplicity. That of the particles in endless movement, that of the vast contents of the Internet, that of the users and the dreams they wish to dream." To see your own internet dream, visit Dreamlines. Via Quotidian Hell.

Winners of 2006 Bloggies Announced

O.K., I know I'm a few days late with this; they were officially announced on 13 March 2006. Still, in case you missed it, here are some of the winners: - Best Canadian Weblog: Photojunkie - Best American Weblog: PostSecret - Best Tagline of a Weblog: Joshuaink.com ("More love than a bus full of hippies") - Best Food Weblog: Vegan Lunch Box - Best Teen Weblog: It's Raining Noodles - Best-Kept-Secret Weblog: Needcoffee - Most Humourous Weblog: Overheard In New York - Best glbt (Gay/Lesbian/Bi-sexual/Transgendered) Weblog: Queerty - Best Group Weblog: Boing Boing To see the complete list of 2006 nominees and winners (and prizes) click here.

Which Hindu Goddess Are You?

As a variation on those questionnaires that circulate via E-mail ("Croutons or bacon bits?"), I decided to fill in an online quiz to find out which Hindu goddess I most resembled. 30-odd questions later, I learned I am most like Sarasvati. According to this site, "Sarasvati is the goddess of knowledge, wisdom, learning and the arts. She is the consort of Lord Brahma, the creator, and is considered to be the most beautiful goddess (although not the most sexual). She's not as material-minded as Lakshmi, just as those with an intellectual streak are generally not as wealthy as their entrepreneurial classmates who went for a Business degree. She rides a swan and sits, peacefully playing her veena. She is the one you turn to for a mastery of an art form or of knowledge." I checked the extensive Wikipedia entry on her to find an explanation of her four arms. It tells me that, "she is generally shown to have four arms representing four aspects of human personality in learning: mind, intellect, alertness and ego." Take the Which Hindu Goddess Are You? test here. Via Revia's Blog.

Giraffe Manor in Nairobi

I've never travelled overseas, but if I ever do, and if I make it to Africa, one must-see stop on my trip will be Giraffe Manor. Apparently the very tame giraffes look in your bedroom window (on the second floor) and stick their heads through the dining room window looking for food. They also try to follow you in the front door. Giraffe Manor is a sanctuary for the endangered Rothschild giraffes. To read more about it, check out this website or this one. Via Boing Boing.

The Mystery Around the Number 6174

Yutaka Nishiyama writes, "The number 6174 is a really mysterious number. At first glance, it might not seem so obvious. But as we are about to see, anyone who can subtract can uncover the mystery that makes 6174 so special." The article in +plus magazine goes on to show all the details. It's written plainly so that those of us who are not mathematicians (like me) can still follow it. To find out the interesting thing about 6174, read the complete article here. Via Cliff Pickover's RealityCarnival.

Camera Returned To Rightful Owner

A while back I blogged about the creepy couple who refused to return the camera they found to its rightful owner. The rightful owner (Judith) blogged about her situation. Judith honourably never revealed the name or the exact location of these people, but she did go to both the police and the media. The result? She finally got her camera back (see that post on her blog and her follow-up post). Justice triumphs.

Shanti, Shanti, Shanti

In the place and time where I grew up, the thinking was that any religious group who chanted belonged to the lunatic fringe. Now that I'm older, I know that chanting is a time-honoured practice in many established religions. Here's a link to some Theravadin Buddhist chanting. Click on the Real Audio link, and then scroll down to see the Pali words (and the English translation).

Great Photo of the Day Site

The Astronomy Picture of the Day site has much more than just photos of stars and nebulas (although there are some wonderful shots of those, too). This is a photo of Earth's Shrinking Antarctic Ice Sheet: Credit: Ben Holt Sr. (South Pasadena, CA) Here is a photo of the actual Colours of the Moon: Credit & Copyright: Johannes Schedler There are wonderful write-ups to go with each photo—short, but informative and designed for those who are not science experts (but with links to sites to learn more if we'd like).

Things That Make You Go AAAWW

Photos like this one are the reason I visit Cute Overload daily. In addition to wonderful photos everyday, Meg often adds screamingly funny captions. This photo is probably the best one I've ever seen of a hedgehog. Cute Overload has been nominated in four categories for the 2006 Bloggies.

Appreciating An Overlooked Part of Nature

I've always enjoyed rain, snow, storms, and cloudy days. Now I see I have online company. In another entry in the "organisations I didn't know would exist" category, there is the Cloud Appreciation Society. For cloud-lovers, this website has a photo gallery, a gift shop (T-shirts and cufflinks), a forum for talking about clouds, a spot for "Cloud of the Month," and separate forum for members' art work and poetry about clouds. Here is the organisation's manifesto: "WE BELIEVE that clouds are unjustly maligned and that life would be immeasurably poorer without them. We think that they are Nature’s poetry, and the most egalitarian of her displays, since everyone can have a fantastic view of them. We pledge to fight ‘blue-sky thinking’ wherever we find it. Life would be dull if we had to look up at cloudless monotony day after day. We seek to remind people that clouds are expressions of the atmosphere’s moods, and can be read like those of a person’s countenance. Clouds are so commonplace that their beauty is often overlooked. They are for dreamers and their contemplation benefits the soul. Indeed, all who consider the shapes they see in them will save on psychoanalysis bills. And so we say to all who'll listen:Look up, marvel at the ephemeral beauty, and live life with your head in the clouds!" Via Buzzwords Blog: 3 AM Magazine.

Home of the Groove

I have somehow remained unexposed to audioblogs, but I've now found a terrific introduction to them. Dan Phillips' Home Of The Groove is for anyone who loves the music of New Orleans. Phillips says, "This audioblog is based on the premise that the true Home of the Groove, at least on the North American landmass, was New Orleans, Louisiana, and will be again one day soon, as we cannot afford to lose it. I continue to feature selected rare, hard to find New Orleans-related R&B and funk tracks with commentary. Some general knowledge of N.O. music is helpful here, but not required to get your groove on." So far this morning I've listened to B.B. King, Professor Longhair, and Edgar Blanchard and the Gondoliers. I love all music from New Orleans, so this is a great find for me. Also, Phillips has a good list of other audioblogs. A little Dr. John, anyone? Via Yahoo! Picks.

R. I. P. Andreas Katsulas

As I've been surfing the web lately, I've seen quite a few tributes to actor Don Knotts and author Octavia Butler, both of whom died recently. However, I haven't seen mention of the death of the wonderful actor Andreas Katsulas. He had a long, long career, appearing in such television shows as NYPD Blue, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Star Trek: Enterprise. He also acted the part of the one-armed villain in the movie The Fugitive. However, he is probably best known for his regular role in the terrific sci-fi show Babylon 5. Here he played G'Kar, the Narn ambassador to Babylon 5 (and my favourite character). It wasn't just fans who loved him, either. Babylon 5's creator, J. Michael Straczynski, said in an interview on the B5 DVD set, "Andreas Katsulas is God."

Giving Another Ferret A Home

As of Friday afternoon, we have four ferrets. Recently we learned that Felix, the resident ferret at the Saskatchewan Science Centre, needed a new home. Felix had been welcoming children and adults to the Science Centre for many years. He had also gone out with the staff on outreach programs. He's a well-travelled ferret! However, Felix is now getting to that time of a ferret's life where health problems start to occur. Much of the hair on his back started to fall out, and a visit to the vet showed that he had a tumour on his adrenal gland. The wonderful people at the Science Centre paid for surgery so that the tumour could be removed, but the vet told them that there was no guarantee that the hair would grow back. They decided that it was time for Felix to take a well-deserved retirement, and the staff put out word that he needed a new home. I heard about it through the local ferret network, and as Alan and I have a lot of experience with older ferrets (and ferrets with adrenal problems), we offered him a home. He came to live with us on Friday afternoon, and as far as we can tell, he's perfectly happy with the move. Like all ferrets, he likes to explore, and our house is set up for that. We ferret-proofed it when we got our first ferret 16 years ago, and we let all the animals run throughout (except in the basement, which isn't finished). He gets along well with our other animals (three other ferrets, one hedgehog, one dog, and two cats), and they all are completely relaxed with him. Trudy, the liveliest of our cats, likes to play with him, and he seems to enjoy that too. Best of all, he loves to snuggle! It's been a long time since we had a ferret who would snuggle, and now we have two—Adja has decided that she likes to sleep on my lap. We have changed his name. We both found we were tripping over "Felix" when we tried to pronounce it, so we changed his name to Max.

A Good Site For Learning About Buddhist Art

Visions of Enlightenment: Understanding the Art of Buddhism is an interesting site focussed on Buddhist art. There are four main categories in which to browse: · the Buddha · Buddhist Places · Bodhisattvas, Deities, Guardians, and Holy Men · Signs, Symbols, Ritual Objects I especially enjoy the "Fact or Fiction" items in the lower left-hand corner of each section (and the rewards!). This site has been put together by the Pacific Asia Museum. Via Yahoo! Picks.

Semper Hedgehog

You have to check out the Advertising Slogan Generator. Really. It will brighten your day. When I found out about this site, I decided that our hedgehog, Jill, needed a slogan. Here are some of the possibilities I got: The Hedgehog That Smiles Back Semper Hedgehog Today's Hedgehog, Since 1903 Bridge That Gap With Hedgehog Hands That Do Dishes Can Be As Soft As Your Hedgehog Stop. Go. Hedgehog. Fresh From the Captain's Hedgehog Things Go Better With Hedgehog Marvin The Mountie Always Gets His Hedgehog Never Knowingly Hedgehog I think I'll adopt "Semper Hedgehog" as my motto. Via Neat New Stuff On The Web.

First Carrots, Now Chocolate

Yesterday I blogged about the carrot museum. Today I can tell you that there is also an online museum about chocolate. If you can stand to read about chocolate without wanting to immediately rush out and buy some, indulge yourself in a visit to this site. There is information here on growing chocolate, the history of chocolate, eating chocolate (what, we need tips on this?), making chocolate, a chocolate challenge, chocolate in books and films, and a children's section. I can feel some dark chocolate calling me . . . . Via Neat New Stuff On The Web.

An Unusual Online Museum

I have just discovered that there is a World Carrot Museum site. There are many different things to look at here: A to Z of Varieties; Carrots in Fine Art; Jokes; and Carrot Trivia, to name a few. According to the Carrot Trivia page, "Carrots produce more distilled spirit than potatoes." I did not know that. I also did not know that Queen Anne's Lace (such a beautiful name!) refers to a wild carrot. There is more information here about carrots than I thought existed. Via onepotmeal.

My Secret Life . . .

. . . Or so my sister thinks! Actually, it's just my other blog: Books, Words, and Writing.