When fans substitute their idol’s public life for their own real life, the result can be mesmerizing, starkly depressing, banally weird, and even occasionally salvific. Yesterday’s double bill of For the Love of Dolly and Camp Michael Jackson gave the audience more creepy, revelatory, and celebratory moments than reasonable.  The afternoon show’s two documentaries, part of Frameline’s 30th Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender film festival, focused on the fans of Dolly Parton and Michael Jackson. While the films each dealt with over-the-top, true fanatics, the level of discomfort I felt watching the films was significantly different.  […]

The President says our plan is to train Iraqis and to turn over security operations to the local forces.  In furtherance of that goal, in late March the U.S. Army commander at Camp Taji decided to involve the Iraqi unit it was training to help clear a near-by city of insurgents. According to an article in today's Wall Street Journal (WSJ), the U.S. commander, Col. James Pasquarette, and his American staff developed a cleansing plan without consulting the Iraqis who had local knowledge. The Americans then invited the two ranking officers of the Iraqi army into a briefing where: The two Iraqi officers [...]

From AP: "Coffee may counteract alcohol's poisonous effects on the liver and help prevent cirrhosis, researchers say. In a study of more than 125,000 people, one cup of coffee per day cut the risk of alcoholic cirrhosis by 20 percent. Four cups per day reduced the risk by 80 percent." This is the kind of news that really should be kept from me! read more | digg story

Pure fun, work-safe picture which explains a lot. How Computers Work

Our youngest dogs, "the puppies", turn 11 in August.  (Their aunt Audit is in the picture above.) There's nothing like having your children age to make you feel old... or at least that's what my mother told me when I was approaching my 30th birthday. We used today's rare sun in the backyard to update our family portraits.  The photo below on the left was taken 7 or so years ago.  The one on the right is from this afternoon.    Full-sized and more pictures of the red Ozdachs, the black and tan Ozdachs, redozdachs, and ozdachs are behind the cut. Thanks to Ken for being [...]

Roger Ebert has gone all out praising Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth in Ebert's Chicago Sun-Times column.  I have been vaguely aware of the documentary and put it on my "kinda want to see it" list.  Ebert's mention of it makes me bump it up to "will see". "In 39 years, I have never written these words in a movie review, but here they are: You owe it to yourself to see this film", says Ebert. Powerful enough to catch my attention. What really grabbed me?  The frothing hate comments heaped upon Ebert, liberals, and anyone not drinking the no-nothing [...]

Just received email from the Wish Upon a Thar organizers:Marriot and Clarion Hotel Reservations ... Yes, both hotels are now full. Need to share a Room? The Wish Upon A Thar roommate BBS is up and running. Login at the upper right of the convention home page (www.wishuponathar.org ), and the link to the Roomshare Bulletin Board will appear in the login space. ... Only registrants of Wish Upon A Thar can access this bulletin board.

Shortly after we arrived home from Oregon Tuesday we smelled smoke and saw clouds of it billowing over a neighbor's house a few backyards over.After a moments hesitation over which of our many phones was the closest to grab and dial 9-1-1, I listened to one round of "we're sorry we're busy, please do not hang up" before describing the situation to the answering dispatcher.  Geoff heard fire engines arriving and left to see what was going on.After a quick conversation with the eventual live dispatcher, I grabbed my camera.  It looks grim, eh? More Disaster Pictures