Learn About Fracking...

A nicely done, fact-based documentary, just a half hour long:

Volcanic Temperatures in Charlottesville, Virginia...

According to this weatherman on a Richmond, Virginia weather station, literally volcanic temperatures:



But I checked my mom's computer (located in her home near Charlottesville), and it's still up.  So this must not be for real :-)

Victoria Arlen...

Frankie T. is one of my colleagues at work.  Victoria Arlen (swimming at right) is a friend of her family, and Frankie introduced me to Victoria's remarkable story.

Just three years ago, Victoria's legs were paralyzed and she was in a vegetative state.  But in 2009, she began an amazing recovery – and now, just three years later, legs still completely paralyzed, she is a member of the U.S. Paralympics swim team headed for competition in London.  Victoria's story is an uplifting tale of determination and grit, well worth a few minutes of your time to get acquainted with.  There's a two part (non-embeddable, dang it!) video story (part 1 and part 2), and more information here, here, here, and here...

Quote of the Day...

From Scott Adams, on today's Dilbert strip:

I am Mordac, the preventer of information services!

In one mordant sentence, a perfect summation of how corporate employees typically view IS (or IT) guys.  Fortunately for our collective sanity, there are exceptions to this (especially for enterprises using this), though even just a few years ago the exceptions were far fewer.  Every IS or IT guy I've ever met is painfully familiar with this stereotypical way of how their fellow employees view them – and how that view has more than a little truth to it.  The best work their butts off to avoid being viewed this way...

Twenty Groaners...

...via reader Simi L.  Some of these I've heard before, but many are new to me:

1. Two antennas met on a roof, fell in love and got married. The ceremony wasn't much, but the reception was excellent.

2. A jumper cable walks into a bar. The bartender says, "I'll serve you, but don't start anything."

3. Two peanuts walk into a bar, and one was a salted.

4. A dyslexic man walked into a bra.

5. A man walks into a bar with a slab of asphalt under his arm, and says: "A beer please, and one for the road."

6. Two cannibals are eating a clown. One says to the other: "Does this taste funny to you?"

7. "Doc, I can't stop singing The Green, Green Grass of Home."
"That sounds like Tom Jones Syndrome."
"Is it common?"
"Well, It's Not Unusual."

8. Two cows are standing next to each other in a field. Daisy says to Dolly, "I was artificially inseminated this morning."
"I don't believe you," says Dolly.
"It's true; no bull!" exclaims Daisy.

9. An invisible man marries an invisible woman. The kids were nothing to look at either.

10. DejaMoo: The feeling that you've heard this bull before.

11. I went to buy some camouflage trousers the other day, but I couldn't find any.

12. I went to a seafood disco last week...And pulled a mussel.

13. What do you call a fish with no eyes? A fsh.

14. Two fish swim into a concrete wall. The one turns to the other and says, "Dam!"

15. Two Eskimos sitting in a kayak were chilly, so they lit a fire in the craft. Not surprisingly it sank, proving once again that you can't have your kayak and heat it too.

16. A group of chess enthusiasts checked into a hotel, and were standing in the lobby discussing their recent tournament victories.
After about an hour, the manager came out of the office, and asked them to disperse.
"But why," they asked, as they moved off.
"Because," he said. "I can't stand chess-nuts boasting in an open foyer."

17. A woman has twins, and gives them up for adoption. One of them goes to a family in Egypt , and is named 'Ahmal.' The other goes to a family in Spain ; they name him 'Juan.' Years later, Juan sends a picture of himself to his birth mother. Upon receiving the picture, she tells her husband that she wishes she also had a picture of Ahmal. Her husband responds, "They're twins! If you've seen Juan, you've seen Ahmal."

18. MahatmaGandhi, as you know, walked barefoot most of the time, which produced an impressive set of calluses on his feet. He also ate very little, which made him rather frail and with his odd diet, he suffered from bad breath. This made him . . . A super-calloused fragile mystic hexed by halitosis.

19. A dwarf, who was a mystic, escaped from jail. The call went out that there was a small medium at large.

20. And finally, there was the person who sent twenty different puns to his friends, with the hope that at least ten of the puns would make them laugh. No pun in ten did?

That's quite enough for now, don't you think?