Buds at the Picnic

.


(IMG_3316.jpg uploaded by brownpau.)

Amy and I were at the AAAMWDC Annual Picnic on Saturday. It’s always great to be around Ateneans who lived through some of the school’s most memorable days from the 1950s to the 1970s — my uncle included. You hear all kinds of stories. Plus, the Filipino potluck lunch buffet was a lovely affair of lechon, pakbet, BBQ, and my own signature adobo with ginger.

On a related note, I vengefully deleted Mambo CMS from AteneoDC.com, and gave in to the WordPress urge. Things are so much nicer now, though I have yet to replace the default template.

Gamma Hydra Section Ten

.

Saying the Bible tells Jews and Christians to kill homosexuals is like saying that Star Trek II is all about Captain Saavik’s failed attempt to rescue the Kobayashi Maru from the Klingon Neutral Zone.

Anchovies and DIA

.

Thursday, I met up with Scully for a last lunch (but not a last meeting) before he heads north, and we ate at Pizzeria Paradiso, where I ordered something called a Napolitana. This involved the ingestion of a greater volume of anchovies in a single sitting than I had consumed in the last two years. Zoidberg would have been proud.

I spent the afternoon attending a Democracy In Action online communications strategy session at Public Citizen HQ. I didn’t see Nader, though. I did get to hear stuff on content management and online activism from web folk at Common Cause, Greenpeace, and Oceana. The latter talk was especially interesting, as they use Typo3 as their CMS, and it’s looking like a tolerable oasis in the wilderness of open-source content management.

Thunderstorms then rolled through the DC area just after work hours, signalling an end to the heat wave. The temperature has dropped nearly thirty degrees since then.

STS-114 Launches

.

Liftoff! Discovery is in orbit, and STS-114 is well and fully underway. The fuel sensor problem which had previously delayed the launch was not an issue this morning. Mission timeline, mission updates, and the Wikipedia entry.

Also posted to Metafilter.

Update: Fuel tank camera shows debris flying off the tank during separation, but it didn’t hit the orbiter. Future shuttle models of this type should have the spacecraft perched atop its initial propulsion stages rather than astride, a la Apollo, to avoid problems such as the impact which destroyed Columbia.

Update: Poor bird! :(

Attentive Pandora (wiggle)

.

It’s rare that I can get a decent photo of Pandora awake — let alone two successive photos of her in the same position. As it is, she moved her head just a tiny bit. Otherwise, this 3D wiggle came out well.

Old Friends’ Weblogs

.

Updates on some old college friends’ weblogs:

Toni of Wifely Steps recently moved servers and is now running WordPress. It always gives me a lift to read about her rapturous adventures in domestic bliss. She was recently featured in the Manila Bulletin’s “Blog-O-Rama” section: Toni’s Everyday Scribbles, by Annalyn Jusay.

Angie has moved her weblog to “Osong Duling,” which means “Cross-eyed Bear.” I was tickled pink when she told me that she’s now going out with an old classmate of mine from grade school. Small world. (Angie, does he have a site?)

Erik, whom we also called Perik back in college for reasons I can no longer remember, is apparently On The Verge of something.

Ganns continues to be Super Blessed.

Mike and Row are kind of busy and are not updating, but I can assure you that they will be sharing domestic bliss in the near future.

“Draw Your Sword!”

.


(DRAW YOUR SWORD! uploaded by brownpau.)

“You sir, have challenged my honor, and I demand satisfaction!”

In case you’re wondering why DC is suddenly crawling with boy scouts, it’s the 2005 National Scout Jamboree in Fredericksburg, VA, starting tomorrow. The Jamboree lasts ten days, so start getting used to the sight of boy scouts from now till next week.