I have an envelope on my desk from the American Cancer Society.  A very, very worthy organization, and one that I do indeed plan to support financially.  But—being the strange bird that I am—I’d like to do so creatively, selfishly, and, well, with your help

No, I’m not going to ask you to send me money… at least not until I’m masochistically running some 42K fundraiser race or whatever where I have to raise [$x] and [x] is some relatively high number.  Instead, I’m going to ask you to do work for me.  Let me explain…

Leave it up to my fellow dancer friends to think up something that’s equally entertaining and potentially useful.

To my non-Lindy-Hop reader friends… one thing you should know:  In general, it’s a major faux pas to wear high heels when swing dancing.  The follow’s balance tends to be off, the guys are afraid of getting stabbed when doing charlestons, and so on.  In fact, a running joke is that you can identify (and avoid) the total newbies by seeing which women are wearing high heels.  Same thing for blues dancing and blues dancers.

But this creates a bit of a conflict.  Often times blues dancers are avid tango’ers… and occasionally, there are hybrid events which combine the worlds of blues and tango dancing.  In tango, it’s apparently quite customary, even desireable for the follows to be decked out in high heels.

So what to do, other than trudging a very large purse or backpack along with you for a second pair of shoes, not to mention having to miss out on a song just to change shoes?

Anyone have any idea what this animal is?  I saw him in a park in St. Louis, Missouri, and I’ve been wondering ever since.  And since his home sort of complements my new blog colors, I figured it was high time to feature him here.

After all the serious posts about geek stuff, I figured it was time to throw in a bit of levity again. So here's a sample I've lovingly clipped from The Blender's "Aunt Sue's Ant Soup." Click the little play button below to hear it (Flash and a broadband connection required)

[Did this stream nicely for you? Please let me know in the comments below!]

Here's a bit about this song and the group behind it... plus -- I know you're craving this -- the full lyrics I insanely transcribed in a fit of insomnia last night.

The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences has various "kids" lyrics pages... one of which has the lyrics and midi file for Little Shop of Horror's "Suddenly Seymour" song [note: midi file plays when page is loaded].

Don't get me wrong. I LOVE this musical and quite like that specific song as well. But if someone can explain how this relates to environment or health or whatever, I'd love to hear it! :D

I'm not kidding.

All I can say is... I would have enjoyed calculus a whole lot more if I had had teachers like this (and believe it or not, one of the featured "teachers" in this video is seriously smart!) Not saying I would have actually learned or remembered more... okay, yeah, this video is embarrasingly bad, but it still gave me a chuckle. I've heard of naked news anchorwomen, but bikini'd calculus lessons? If this doesn't herald the fall of Western Civilization as we know it... :D

Ahem. Okay, well, the substantive take-away from this entry? You can already find most anything on Google Video... now Flash-based (no more Google Player!) and enriched with handy-dandy in-page 15-second previews, automatic resizing, and more. [hat tip: Google BlogNewsChannel]

Just a little bit of lightness for this morning

I've taken dance lessons from this one very talented instructor, and I was a bit taken aback upon noting that her nickname in dance forums is "Hottie." Though she's certainly quite blessed in the looks department, I found this to be a rather odd choice of nicknames... possibly even bordering on conceited.

Then one day she explained it all to me.

I now understand that the meaning of life is goverened not by evolution, nor by the number 42, but rather by the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

Also, I've come to realize that steadfastly believing in the THEORY of gravity is very foolhardy. I overlooked Intelligent Falling!

So I'm listening to Internet radio and, without noticing the current title playing, marveling at a rich and engaging orchestral piece I don't recognize.

Holy smokes... it's from the first Pokemon movie?! Studio execs hired a decent full orchestra AND reasonably talented composer/arranger for THAT???

Just goes to show you that, even in the most seemingly inconsequential of places, there are little and surprising joys to be found.