"Love is what I need to help me know my name..."

As always, name that band. And I may start giving out real prizes
again. I slacked a bit, but those few prizes I did give out were a
pleasure for both myself and others.

I've decided that I'm glad I am me, and that I know what I know. I
was at work today and the girl across the conveyor belt asked what I
was studying in school. I said languages and she then asked what
languages I have studied. I told her that I have taken Latin and
Japanese, to which she responded, "What the heck is Latin?" I don't
even know how to describe how that made me feel. If you can imagine
someone not recognizing one of the greatest pleasures of your life,
that's kid of what it was like. I kind of had to think about what I
would be like if I didn't know about and had no interest in history
and languages. I wouldn't be me, and I don't know who I would be. I
wish I could share what I know with everyone and make them as excited
about it as I am.

I had forgotten how much I love the band R.E.M. I heard them on the
radio this morning. They really do have some good music. And so does
Seal. He came out with an album just last year that I like a lot. I
listened to some of both this evening, and it made me feel relaxed in
a way that I haven't felt all week. It probably helps that we are
entering the realm of the weekend, but methinks the music is more
directly responsible for the change.

Is everyone watching Jeopardy lately? This dude Ken is rocking it up.
He has tied the one-day record at $52,000 twice (unless he did it
again today, I didn't see) but has never exceeded it. And he has been
on the show for somewhere around 38 days running. I forget the actual
number, but he's way good at what he does. I bet he's been waiting
his whole life for this opportunity. He's a pretty cool guy too. He
drew all over the walls of his brand new home with permanent marker.
Why? "It was really liberating."

I finally got to see Napolean Dynamite last night. I thought that it
wasn't playing anywhere in Idaho (and when I checked, it wasn't) but
it is now, and so I went. It is as funny or funnier than I've heard
it is. I liked it a lot, and I suggest you all see it. I laughed
many times. Beyond many. Oh, and I think they had some good ,usic
playing during the opening title sequence. "We Are Gonna Be Friends"
by The White Stripes. Ooh yah. Good times, good times...

Well, that's all for tonight folks. Have an awesome weekend!

B-Diggity

"I'm goin' to Wichita, Far from this opera, forever more..."

Hey all, I'm writing one of these funky emails, and this one will be
shorter than others. I know they're hard to read all the way through
sometimes, and it's also going to be more commentary to make it less
informative. and more fun.

I was just endorsing all my checks from work this past month, and it
turns out that I've lost more than $200 in taxes so far, and if it
weren't for that, I would have earned well over $1,000 this month.
Jerks. But I am guaranteed a large refund because they don't need my
money and I'm not going to be working all year. So that'll be fun.
Oh, and they raised the cost of a mission now too. Instead of $375
per month, it's now $400. So that adds up to $600 more than it used
to be, and I'll need $9,600 now instead of $10,000.

So on Friday, I went out dancin' and I ended up going to this girl
Liz's house until 2:30 and then I went to Jared's house until 4:30,
and I got home kinda late. But I got to sleep in on Saturday. Julie
was with me all Friday night, but she's insane so she got up at 8am
and then stayed out until 5:30am again that night. Seriously, insane.
I spent Saturday night chillin' and picnicking and swimming and stuff
with Noel and various wardies. Not to be confused with "warties",
those are entirely different and gross. Same kind of sound if you're
lazy and American.

Yah, and wurd up to Ryan, he got his mission call. Good deal.

I just listened to "Nintendo" by Five Iron Frenzy and it's all right.
I suggest listening to it.

Speaking of suggestions, I'm trying to figure out what percentage of
my friends say it like "sug-jest" versus "suh-jest". This is
important to me in ways that none of you probably understand. I'm a
freak, and this is interesting to me. I'm wondering if maybe there's
a correlation with where you live and all that. I dunno.

And that's all for today because I have to return "Calle 54" today.
Ay carumba! It's an earthquake! Talk to yous later.

The Brian Harris

"As the past meets the future it gets clearer that it all boils down to love..."

So I took it upon myself to look up the word "giddy", these are the results.

In The Dictionary (you know which one I mean), apparently it is a
brain disorder affecting sheep, but I couldn't ever find out exactly
what it is.

Also, did you know that there is a band called Asthma Sheep? I didn't
until just today.

And I found an instance where someone (evidently Scottish) used the
word gam-bling instead of gambling. I thought to myself, "Self, this
is interesting."

And I also read about how Tom Stoppard wrote plays with "giddy
explosions of words."

And I found this quote:
"Two horns and a set of udders are definitely baaaaaad in
revolutionary Rochdale - where giddy lambs are taking to the streets."

And also this quote:
"I am deleriously giddy in your presence." This one was on a Runner's
World forum, and I liked it, and I may use it on occasion now.

Also, the word giddy has been used to mean "maggot" Hmmm.

That's what I learned today.

And your random phrase of the day is: Today lickspittle. It is a
noun, meaning "an abject parasite or sycophant" I think it's high
quality.

The last few holidays: The 11th was Cheer Up The Lonely Day and World
Population Day. The 12th was Different Colored Eyes Day and Pecan Pie
Day (It was also Brian Day and I actually had pecans on my cake) The
13th was Fools' Paradise Day. The 14th was National Nude Day and
Bastille Day. Yesterday, the 15th, was Ice Cream Cone Day, Tapioca
Pudding Day, and Cow Appreciation Day. Today is International
Juggling Day. Have fun with that one. And tomorrow, for your
preparation, is Peach Ice Cream Day. I tried some of that once, and
it was kind of awful tasting, but it's the kind of flavor that grows
on you. It was indeed hard to stop eating, although I never really
did like the flavor of peaches. Try some, it's really not too bad,
overall...

Happy Birthday today to:
Giuseppe Piazzi, 1746 (he discovered Ceres, the first known asteroid)
George A Birmingham, 1865
"Shoeless" Joe Jackson, 1887
Frits Zernike, 1888 (Got a Nobel for inventing a phase-contrast telescope)
Orville Redenbacher, 1907
John Edward "Teddy" Buckner, 1909
Peter Van Eyck, 1913
Desmond Dekker, 1942 (If you don't recognize him, study up some more
on your Reggae history!)
Claude Lemieux, 1965 (No relation to Mario)

Happy Deathday today to:
El Cid, 1099 (which is almost like 1066, but not really.)
Max Factor Jr, 1995 (makeup inventor)

Things that happened on this day in history:
Joan of Arc leads French army in Battle of Orleans, 1429
Kissing is banned in England (to stop germs from spreading), 1439
Public debate between Martin Luther & John Eck, 1519
1st banknotes in Europe were issued by Bank of Stockholm, 1661
John Adams graduates from Harvard, 1775
Statue of Laurens Jansz Coster unveiled in Haarlem, 1856
Joseph Monier patents reinforced concrete, 1867
1st x-ray photo of arterial circulation, 1936
"Catcher in Rye" published, 1951
Apollo 11 launched, 1961 (this is the flight that took buzz aldrin and
neil armstrong and that other dude that didnt even get off the
shuttle, thus undistinguishizing himself for all time)
Dimitrios Papadopoulos becomes 269th patriarch of Constantinople, 1972
Ukraine declares independence, 1990 (I know two guys in Ukraine)
Spanish fishing boats sink a French fishing boat over fishing rights, 1994

Good times, good times...

Well, it's been another uneventful week here in Boise. Maybe I'll go
and finish painting my bedroom. It's green. Mostly. I have to do
the second coat now. And I also havent watched "Calle 54" yet. I saw
it once, but now I have it in my house, so I have to see it again. I
like it a lot. The first time, it came out "I like it a log" but that
doesn't make any sense at all. So I fixed it. Have a grand day, all
of yous! I'll talk to you later. And if you feel that I've been
shirking on the commentary, I hope this relieves all your fears that I
have stopped entirely. Also, I apolagize for not sending out more
often. Maybe when I stop selling out, I'll start sending out. Hey,
peace out all.

Spam Man Of The Hill

"I'm a dork, she's so cool. I'm ugly, she's beautiful. She's so smart, I'm just a fool..."

Name that band! I only know of two guys who could answer this one
without looking it up. One of them is in Hiroshima, so he's out of
the running. The other is still out there somewhere... Actually I
know exactly where, but telling would take all the fun out of things.

I'm listening to Randy Newman right now. He's way awesome. If you
think you don't even recognize him, think again. If you've seen Toy
Story or Monster's Inc., then you know him. He does a lot of cool
stuff with the piano. I like him, check him out.

Yesterday was Strawberry Sundae Day, and today is Video Games Day.

Today is the birthday of such celebrities as:
Don Carlos, 1545
Percy Grainger, 1882 (AWESOME GUY!)
Kevin Bacon, 1958
Karl Dykhuis, 1972

And the following people died today:
Edgar, King of England, 975
Christian Huygens, 1695
William Cadbury, 1957

And some things happened:
Paris is founded, 951
NATO invites Poland, Hungary & Czech Republic to join, 1997

The other stuff is mostly boring. For me, anyway. You can look it up
yourselves if you'd like.

I am not really in the mood to look stuff up and report. I'm going to ramble.

The word 'earwig' comes from Old English. The 'ear' part means 'ear'
(as in corn), and the 'wig' part is a shortened form of the word that
used to mean 'to wiggle'. I guessed that much, then I looked it up
and I was right. Bully for me.

I just ran out of Ramble Energy. I am dead tired today. And I'm
done. Sorry this is so weaksauce.

--
Brian D. Harris

"Being near you is a gift I only wish I could treasure..."

First off, does anyone remember the TV show Captain Bucky O'Hare? You
know, "Let's croak us some toads!..." And second, does anyone
remember the game Zaxxon? I'm looking for downloads of either of
these, but I'm having some trouble. I got the Bucky O'Hare theme song
and show intro, and I got this version of Zaxxon that was clearly
meant to run on a 286 with an EGA monitor. It goes so flippin' fast
on my computer that I'm having a really difficult time flying my
spaceship. I get a "Game Over" roughly every four seconds. That's
three lives... I can't think that fast. So if you can find a slower
version, or perhaps a low-memory emulator, or something, let me know
eh?

Today is National Fried Chicken Day. If I had known, I still wouldn't
have eaten fried chicken. It's a little gross sometimes, and today is
one of those days that chicken just doesnt appeal.

Happy Birthday to:
Elisabeth van Nassau, 1542 (daughter of Willem and Juliana van Stolberg)
John Paul Jones, 1747
Nicholas I Pavlovitch, 1796
Josef Winckler, 1881
Thomas W McKnew, 1896 (President of the National Geographic Society)
Wojciech Jaruzelski, 1923 (One guess as to his nationality!)
14th Dalai Lama, 1935
George W. Bush, 1946
Sylvester Stalone, 1946 (One time I had to act out Sylvester Stalone
without using any words, and the whole thing was really kind of
embarassing. Some of you I'm sure remember this...)
Steve Sullivan, 1974
50 Cent, 1976

Happy Deathday to:
Henry II, King of England, 1189
Jan Hus, 1415 (burned for heresy in Constance, Germany)
Thomas More, 1535 (exectued for treason. It's a good thing too. This
guy's a jerk. A lot of jerks came out of Oxford in his time. The
really cool guys all went to Cambridge, but there were a few oddballs
in each. William Tyndale went to both. He went to Cambridge when
Oxford accused him of heresy)
Edward VI Tudor, 1553
William Kidd, 1701 (buccaneer! he was executed too)
William Harrison Faulkner, 1962
Louis Armstrong, 1971
Ivor Keys, 1995 (this dude has a cool name, reminds me of a certain
ranger who likes elves... Good ol' Heroes of Might and Magic 3!)

Today in History:
King Richard III crowned, 1483
Lyman Blake patents shoe manufacturing machine, 1858
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics forms, 1923
1st photo sent experimentally across Atlantic by radio, US-England, 1924
Worlds largest hailstone falls, 1928 (in Potter, Nebraska. 17' tall!)
Freak heat wave sent central coast of Portugal to 158 F for 2 minutes, 1949
I watched a lady get Musk aftershave spilled all over her! It came
from two stories above, and someone dropped it down the crack and she
was standing in just the right spot, 2004

Words of the day:
debarrass: to disencumber from anything that embarrasses
fructify: to bear fruit, to make productive
congeries: a collection, an aggregation
eidetic: marked by extraordinarily accurate and vivid recall

Irish Word of the Day: (haven't done one of these in a while, eh?)
Nollaig = Christmas
Nollaig Shona (NO-lig HO-nuh) = Merry Christmas
Oíche Nollag (EE-huh NO-luhg) = Christmas Eve
Lá Nollag (LAW NO-luhg) = Christmas Day
History: Old Irish "Notlaic" comes from Latin "natalicia" (= of the
day of birth), from the verb "(g)nasci" (to be born), which can be
traced back ultimately to the Indo-European root *gen- (to give
birth).

Oh, how I love those Indo-European roots! I'm reading a book now on
translating. It's pretty good. It's actually the biography of a
professional translator (and also professional heretic...)

"A little inaccuracy sometimes saves tons of explanation"
-Saki

"People seem to enjoy things more when they know a lot of other people
have been left out of the pleasure."
-Russell Baker

"I loathe the expression "What makes him tick." It is the American
mind, looking for simple and singular solution, that uses the foolish
expression. A person not only ticks, he also chimes and strikes the
hour, falls and breaks and has to be put together again, and sometimes
stops like an electric clock in a thunderstorm."
-James Thurber

I think that's about all I can handle for today. I'm tired. Goodbye all.

--
Brian D. Harris

"The water is much deeper than I thought, Nothing to swim with, Kicking but I keep sinking..."

As always, name that band. Sorry I haven't written yous in a while.
I have been tired. If that is a thing to do, then I have been doing
it. Otherwise, I am using my state of being as an excuse. Well,
today I bled all over my favorite shirt. Bummer when that happens,
eh? And I also spent $95 on a bag of Cheetos. It's actually a good
story. I already wrote it out once today though, and I don't feel
like writing it again. See http://mindtraipse.blogspot.com The whole
story is on there, and I like to think its a rather good story.
Speaking of "rather good", you should all check out
www.rathergood.com. It's a good one. COWUUUBE!!

The last few holidays: The 28th was Paul Bunyan Day, Insurance
Awareness Day, National Columnists Day, the 29th was Camera Day (too
bad Cambell's gone, he would have enjoyed this one), the 30th was
Meteor Day, yesterday was (get ready for a long list...) Canada Day,
Creative Ice Cream Flavors Day, and Build A Scarecrow Day. Today is
International Jokes Day and I Forgot Day. Tomorrow is Disobedience
Day and Stay Out Of The Sun Day. And as I will not be writing one of
these on Sunday or Monday, Sunday is (duh) Independence Day. Did yous
know that they have the 4th of July in Britain too? Sunday is also
(cringe...) National Country Music Day (after all, they *are* the most
patriotic people on the planet... Actually they aren't. They just
think they are), Compliment Your Mirror Day (I never have had trouble
with that one for some reason... Maybe it is because I am the uber
best looking guy around!), and it's also Sidewalk Egg Frying Day.
Monday is Work-A-Holics Day. Even though I don't have to work on
Monday! Ahhhhh.... So refreshing (I think, I haven't had Monday off
yet.)

And I don't actually feel like writing an email. I gave it my best
shot. If you're interested in stuff, LOOK IT UP!! It's a great
past-time, and it always is enlightening, and usually invigorating.
Also, do a bit of reading, it's good for you. I wish everyone a good
weekend, don't forget to blow stuff up (stuff, not animals) and yah.

--
Brian D. Harris