Lucky Loonie Planted in Curling Ice:

Brad Gushue's rink didn't seem to need much luck in winning gold at the Olympics on Friday, but it seemed someone wasn't taking any chances.

A Canadian icemaker apparently buried a pair of loonies in the championship ice sheet. A similar tactic worked in 2002 in Salt Lake City when Canada won men's and women's hockey gold.

Not a black and white photo:

that, and we all know it's your one true secret passion.

well, Paras, as anyone in the liberal arts/literary studies will tell you, it's only once you understand the conventions of writing and communication that you can effectively dispose of them.

The "emoticon-ing" I can deal with. Verbing nouns, though? I dunno, Mary.

ahhh...crap...tuna's bad for me? bah. obviously there's some crab/lobster lead corporate anti-tuna conspiracy. those bastards.

and yes, alison, you did send me your mailing address :)

and yes, i emoticon-ed. deal with it.

tee hee, fueling further debate on the subject of reactions to cartoons:
scientists riot

Meet my cubicle neighbour today. Everything seemed too normal.

okay, on a completely random note, who the fuck is Betrayer, and why am I on their e-mailing list??

what, it's not hard for you to be mean, or it's not hard for people to e-mail you their mailing addresses? Mary, I'm confused. ;) hee hee! actually, in all seriousness, I concur. you've left ample notice to people, and for them to be mad at you now would definitely be without grounds. (I did give you mine, right?)


aaaand... for Mary and Dana in particular - as per a conversation we had recently - but everyone else might be interested too: Tuna is bad for you. It contains methylmercury, and there's no way to get it out of the fish.

Why would methylmercury be bad? well... according to Sandra Steingraber and an article in Orion Magazine, methylmercury "has been shown to paralyse migrating fetal brain cells and halt their division. As a result, the architecture of the brain is subtly altered in ways that can lead to learning disabilities, delayed mental development and shortened attention spans in later childhood." and "the placenta actively pumps methylmercury into the umbilical cord, raising the concentration of mercury in fetal blood above that of the mother's own blood." so, if that isn't incentive enough for you, don't forget that mercury has effects on adults too. but above all... you probably shouldn't be eating it if you want kids... or so goes the dietary suggestions... also on the 'bad' list: shark and swordfish. You may eat up to one serving per week, unless you're a child or a woman of child-bearing age whereby the limit is one serving a month. hooray for bioaccumulation!

oh, and here are three links for more information about mercury in fish and elsewhere:
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ahc-asc/media/advisories-avis/2002/2002_41_e.html
http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/admehg3.html
http://mercurypolicy.org/