Soldier Ant 

Crying, while eating is exactly what it says it is.

10 years ago tomorrow -- July 4th, 1995 -- I was standing in a parking lot outside a mall in Bowling Green, Ohio. I'd graduated from college the month before, and I was holding a girlfriend's hand. Come Fall, I was due to move to Atlanta, to start grad school, and I was looking at the moon (in my memory, it was a full moon, but apparently my memory is wrong.)

I had just watched Apollo 13. A fine film, and probably what prompted me to look at the moon in the first place.

Why do I remember this at all? Because it was one of those rare times in life when I felt completely... present in "the now." I was looking at the Moon, and I was thinking about my life, and wondering where it would take me. And I had the strangest feeling that I was talking to myself 10, 20 or even 50 years in the future. Talking to future-me, telling myself that everything would be just fine.

So every year, on the 4th, I remember that kind reassurance, coming from a nervous kid. And every year, it kinda turns out that the kid knew what he was talking about. It's been alright. It's been a good 10 years.

Willie & Diamond, originally uploaded by soldierant.

LeeAnn and I have started volunteering every Monday at the Capital Area Humane Society. We walk dogs on Monday morning, and it's a great opportunity to help these little guys out, as well as learn their temperaments and get to know some great dogs.

Like Willie and Diamond, a brother-and-sister pair (I don't think they're genetically related, but you wouldn't know that from how gentle and loving they are with each other.)

These two amazing huskies are up for adoption and we've walked them the past two weeks. I would bring them home myself if I didn't think that would be doing them a disservice -- I think they need some space to roam, and a loving guardian that understands the Husky breed and it's special needs.

Please pass this on to anyone who fits that description.

4.17-2, originally uploaded by prolix.

Flickr user prolix has a great series of street portraits taken in San Francisco. Really impressive.

Freddy Mercury's boyhood in Zanzibar:

We know him as Freddie Mercury, the swaggering lead singer for Queen whose taste for drugs, sex and pomp was legendary even by the hedonistic standards of the 1970s.

Subash Shah knew him as Buckwheat, a shy, insecure boy with a severe overbite who grew up on the island of Zanzibar, mimicking the moves of Cliff Richard and Elvis Presley.

Hipster Trailer, originally uploaded by soldierant.

This is one cool little trailer. The wife and I spotted it on US-70 last week, just West of Cambridge, OH and I had her snap off a couple of shots on my crappy Treo. You can get them made-to-order, and -- while I am easily 30 years too young to be having a 'ditch it all and live in an RV' late-life-crisis, this little baby could make me rethink that position. (For small stretches of 6-8 days, of course.)

This is cool. BayCHI will be podcasting all their events, and putting old ones (dating back to 2003) online. Get the podcasts here. (Now the BarCHI crowd can listen in, hung over, the following day.)

So, where does the term "red tape" come from?

The colorful term used to refer to the seemingly endless parade of paperwork that accompanies many official matters got its start back in jolly old England. It seems that thick legal documents were bound or tied with (what else?) red cloth tape. So when someone spoke of cutting through the red tape, they meant it in a very literal sense.

Flickr user furbo has a thing for cute noses.

The Astro City Rocket reports the story behind the story:

When I was in college, my mother sent me this article -- she'd clipped it from the Boston Globe, because it struck her as funny, and she thought I'd get a kick out of it.

After a 2-month hiatus due to a busted-up iBook, my brother is back at his blog and as entertaining as ever.

I'm a big fan of Robot Wisdom's regular Cliche Watch feature. Here's mine: The first rule of [X]? Do not talk about [X] (not Fightclub.)