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Hey good people, Mary Pat and I are going to send out "save the date" cards to everyone who plans on attending our wedding, and I need all of your addresses. I realize that I haven't even spoken with many of you about the event, but if you'd like to come, we'd be glad to have you there. It will be in South Bend, Indiana, on September 2, 2006. But I need your addresses, so leave them in the comments or email me at the email address I have listed on the home page of this site. Muchas gracias from the both of us.

arete

Merry Christmas, folks. Today was definitely one of the more profound days I have been lucky enough to experience. The Crook family is in Greece for the holidays this year, and we spent the day meandering around Athens on a beautiful sun-drenched day, the city silent around us. We wandered around the Pynx, where orators once addressed thousands of citizen/politicians and planted the very seeds of democracy. We sat across from the Aeropagus Hill and the Agora, where the apostle Paul pointed out to the leaders of Athens that they had a shrine to an "unknown god" and that he had an idea who that god was. We walked in Byzantine churches dark with time inside and heavy with incense, the worshippers genuflecting before altars of woven silver and wood. We stood atop the hill where Alexander the Great's generals once stood, watching the bright copper sun melt into the Aegean Sea where Xerxes' armies smashed their boats and sank during the battle of Salamis over four hundred years before Christ was born. We moseyed through a loose city on Christmas morning, exchanging pleasantries in our pitiful Greek and laughing. We bought trinkets and small marble busts which will gather dust on our bookshelves for years to come. Life was good today.

I hope everyone had fun today with your families and friends, and I hope I see you soon.

and a furry new year

Have a very Wookie Christmas.

Ceiling Scenes

Now this is a good idea.

exactly

our friend, mr. sun

"Just remember that you're standing on a planet that's evolving
And revolving at nine hundred miles an hour,
That's orbiting at nineteen miles a second, so it's reckoned,
A sun that is the source of all our power.

The sun and you and me and all the stars that we can see
Are moving at a million miles a day
In an outer spiral arm, at forty thousand miles an hour,
Of the galaxy we call the 'Milky Way'.

Our galaxy itself contains a hundred billion stars.
It's a hundred thousand light years side to side.
It bulges in the middle, sixteen thousand light years thick,
But out by us, it's just three thousand light years wide.
We're thirty thousand light years from galactic central point.
We go 'round every two hundred million years,
And our galaxy is only one of millions of billions
In this amazing and expanding universe.

The universe itself keeps on expanding and expanding
In all of the directions it can whizz
As fast as it can go, at the speed of light, you know,
Twelve million miles a minute, and that's the fastest speed there is.
So remember, when you're feeling very small and insecure,
How amazingly unlikely is your birth,
And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space,
'Cause there's bugger all down here on Earth."

Actual information: 'This animation of the sun was created with images from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). These particular images were gathered by an EIT (Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope), which takes pictures of the Sun, capturing different wavelengths of the ultraviolet light it emits.
Viewing the Sun at different wavelengths allows scientists to study various parts of the Sun, different elements that the Sun is made of, and the Sun at different temperatures. This particular collection of EIT images was from viewing the Sun at a wavelength of 284 Angstroms. At this wavelength we are seeing ions of iron (Fe XV) in active regions of the Sun, or areas of high temperature and much solar activity. You can see in the animation there are constant explosions happening on the surface of the Sun, and that the space immediately around the Sun is very hot.'

exams are almost over

Four down, one to go. Wish me luck.

Thanks, Caroline!

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of course

oh dear

This giant jellyfish is 6ft wide and weighs 450lb.

Good lord

"The Domino's Pizza Man Cave Couch has it all. It serves as a high-end entertainment and food-and-beverage center where everything is within hairy arm's reach.

The Domino's Pizza Couch features:

Two flat panel screen televisions
DVD player
Mini refrigerator
Xbox with three controllers
Electric Red MP3 player
XM Radio with one year of free service
NEXTEL cellular phone and a NASCAR headset
Two Domino's Pizza Heat Wave hot bags to keep your pizzas warm
Coca-Cola beverage cooler
Remote control caddy
Bottle opener
All of the couch action can be captured with an included Kodak Easy Share camera. If that's not enough, guys can kick back and enjoy the special reclining option and head rests that double as paper towel holders. To ensure couch-sitters are respectable and presentable when they leave the couch, Old Spice has provided a year's supply of men's deodorant and body spray. The couch also features the autographs of two-time Daytona 500 winner (and Domino's Pizza Driver) Michael Waltrip and other NASCAR drivers."

What do you mean, an African or European Swallow?

Finally, someone has estimated the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow.

hilarious

Interview with a search engine.

Have you updated your buzzwords lately?

keepin' it real

It took this guy three years to make this chainmail chess set.

the area travels the head office: best. Engrish. ever.

billyuns and billyuns..

Amazing photos taken by Hubble.

another excuse to travel

I recently sent some of you invitations to ClustrMaps, a free hit counter map program that lets you see where visitors to your site live. (email me if you want an invitation) I highly recommend the service, mainly because it's just neat to see where people you know are. And people you don't:

Who are these people? How did they find my site? Can MP and come I visit you?

CARVER - The most athletic car in the world

I want one. Now.

The Second Coming is officially here

Jesus has decided to make an appearance in dirt on the back of a pickup truck in Texas. Oh, the Lord works in mysterious ways indeed.

quote of the day

"I'm not lactose intolerant. I just refuse to put up with lactose's shit."

--anonymous

something's not right here

The Forbes Fictional 15

The top 15 richest people who never existed. Pretty funny, for Forbes.

fly

this is your chance to soar through the clouds. If you like this, you may like this, too.

the new Gap

I feel like this sometimes. Don't you?

synchronized boredom

figures

And of course the most expensive domain name ever ($7.5 million): business.com.

amazing sidewalk art

fun

Bob Dylan and John Lennon in a taxi, 1966.

I submit this link due to an overwhelming amount of requests

A History of the Torpedo.

But I thought biblical truth was inviolate..

According to Italian media reports on Tuesday, an international theological commission will advise Pope Benedict to eliminate the teaching about limbo from the Catholic catechism.

nice

This cool thing is a Double-discharge Lichtenberg figure, whatever that is. Click on it to rotate it 360 degrees.

Need a blog?

Create your own free blog on shitidid.com in about 3 seconds.

Some places it might be difficult to land your plane

Dear, our garden doesn't seem to be doing well...

Five things I’d like to see engraved on little rubber bracelets

1. Nap Strong
2. My Other Bracelet is Fighting Colon Cancer
3. America: Shut Thy Pie Hole
4. Kiss Me, I’m Trendy
5. Please Watch Arrested Development

(via 5ives)

hm

Penn Jillette on why there is no "God."

"I'm not greedy. I have love, blue skies, rainbows, and Hallmark cards, and that has to be enough… It seems just rude to beg the invisible for more."

If you don't mind arguments along these lines, and you like Penn and Teller, you'll want to see this video.

depressed?

Try swimming with dolphins.

wow

This is what happens when you don't read the (not very) small print.

Can you find all 75 band names?

quote of the day

"All I want is a warm bed, a kind word, and unlimited power."

--Ashleigh Brilliant

(via daniel)

end of an era

The final nail in the coffin of the Sixties was driven home recently when Grateful Dead Merchandising, the group that handles official products for the band and is overseen by its surviving members (Namely, Jerry Garcia's ex-wife) pulled over 3,000 live shows from the online music database Archive.org. Considering that the Dead allowed fans to tape and trade their music for over thirty-years, this move seems a bit greedy and pointless. Indeed, when you get confused, just listen to the music play..

hhahahahaha

I looked down from reading my book last night and started laughing...

this is fun

exactly

Five ways your histrionic anti-abortion friend might refer to a fetus:

1. pre-huggable cutiebunchkins
2. unrealized attorney
3. The Lord’s compulsory intercourse receipt
4. untapped angel cluster
5. ante-baptized believer cells

fyi

Folks, it appears Daniel needs a roommate. And having established the following criteria, I doubt he'll have trouble finding one.

"If you are looking for a room, actually have an income, don't mind the occasional wang dang doodle, and are laid back as all get out, give me a ring."

wot that Aprille in her shoures suette

A very cool and brief history of the English tongue, with a chronology and a comparison of the Lord's Prayer in different stages of the language.

bad idea

Former FEMA Director Michael Brown, heavily criticized for his agency's slow response to Hurricane Katrina, is starting a disaster preparedness consulting firm to help clients avoid the sort of errors that cost him his job. In other words, to help clients avoid the sort of mismanagement that occurred under his regime.

webcam art

AMAZING video of the Miraflores locks of the Panama Canal. This is one week compressed into 11 minutes--mezmerizing.

I hear you, man

Satan: Why Does Everybody Hate Me?

What if Fox News Had Been Around Throughout History?

Hahahahaha

The snow has arrived

quote of the day

"If it's not in your life, it won't be in your horn."

-Charlie Parker

take it off some sweet jumps

I'm sorry, but the Treadmill Bike seems incredibly stupid.

must see this

32 hours, 7 minutes.

not known for lots of privacy

Woven interiors.

more McSweeney's

Taking My Personal Demons Out to Lunch at the Olive Garden.

Reason #5,297,132 to quit smoking

Smoker tried to open airliner door.

hahahaha

133 Dead As Delta Cancels Flight In Midair.

an era passes

Alfred Anderson, the last known survivor of the 1914 "Christmas Truce" that saw British and German soldiers exchanging gifts and handshakes in no man's land, died early Monday, his parish priest said. He was 109. His death leaves fewer than 10 veterans of World War I alive in Britain.

good idea

The rear-view helmet.

atypical

Interesting story about a 75-year-old woman who for the last eight years has been an international jewel thief--by walking into jewelery stores, confusing employees, and walking out with the goods.

one hardcore Alabama fan

Wow. (Thanks, mom!)

"solve the problem of how to have fun"

Interesting story on one man's 11-year quest to create disappearing colored bubbles.

don't mess with the dominoes

"The organizers of Domino Day 2005 managed to set a new world record Friday after successfully toppling more than 4.1 million dominoes. Their record-breaking attempt nearly ended earlier this week, however, when a sparrow flew through an open window in the auditorium and knocked down 23,000 dominoes. A system of 750 safety blocks prevented the bird from bringing down most of the domino chain. The bird was shot by an exterminator with an air rifle after it was cornered."

good idea

TIME's best inventions of 2005.

Superman Returns

Hell Yes.

men at work

I'm doing a little cleaning up around the site, so don't worry if things look different for a while. Much obliged.

I need one of these

A new camera will let you take the picture first, then focus the shot as you want it later.

the eye

This fellow takes amazing photos. So does this guy.

must go

Great panoramic photo of Vancouver. [huge]

photorealism

This is not what it may appear to be.

It was a beautiful day Saturday