Polar Bears Are Awesome.

The Canon PowerShot SX20 took this video at the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium.


Not only do they have beautiful warm fur coats, allow the environmentally conscious to file lawsuits (under the Endangered Species Act) as an attempt to control green house emissions, but they also play fight in the most cute (but also scary) way.

Surgery aka I'm a ragdoll.

I recently had to get some surgery to remove some benign tumors from my chest and abdominal wall. I had expected the procedure to take no more than one hour, some Lidocaine, and maybe dozen of stiches.

Instead, it turned into a five-hour affair involving general anesthesia, getting intubated, and going home to uh... find that the surgical staff had removed uh... body hair.

Anyway - now I have some prescription hydrocodone and my throat/trachea feels like as if someone shoved a plastic tube down to keep an open airway to my lungs (which is what happens when you get intubated).


But now I'm four tumors lighter.

Cut me open. Sew me back up. And I'm good as new.

Guy Fawkes Night.

Today is the 5th of November, Guy Fawkes Night, which has been popularized in America amongst tea party members, nerds, and silly fan boys by V for Vendetta. Now I'll admit that it was not a bad film, but these nerds/silly fan boys love to quote the following passage from the film:

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I know of no reason
Why the Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.

What these nerds don't realize is that this poem has more verses.

Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, 'twas his intent
To blow up the King and Parli'ment.
Three-score barrels of powder below
To prove old England's overthrow;
By God's providence [or By God's mercy] he was catch'd
With a dark lantern and burning match.
Hulloa boys, Hulloa boys, let the bells ring.
Hulloa boys, hulloa boys, God save the King!

A penny loaf to feed the Pope.
A farthing o' cheese to choke him.
A pint of beer to rinse it down.
A faggot of sticks to burn him.
Burn him in a tub of tar.
Burn him like a blazing star.
Burn his body from his head.
Then we'll say ol' Pope is dead.
Hip hip hoorah!
Hip hip hoorah!

Yes. People on this side of the Atlantic are remembering the Gunpowder Plot all wrong. Guy Fawkes was not some anti-authoritarian hero. Mr. Fawkes was an anti-majoritarian, anti-Parliament, religious bigot who wanted to blow up a bunch of people to restore the Roman Pope's authority over England and Scotland.

He's the 1600s version of Timothy McVeigh. So yes, please, do celebrate his plot.