Holiday greeting cards from Modern Humorist.

I’m mighty glad I’m not the only one doing this. I’ve tried to rewind many real-world scenes recently. Maybe I shouldn’t admit that.

Exactly a year ago, I started following The Hacker’s Diet, as I decided I was far, far too heavy. I stuck to it very closely for a few months until I got the hang of things, and now, I’m 50 pounds lighter. I’ve still got twenty to go to reach my goal. I’ve held steady the last few months, but perhaps it’s time to make that final push. The Hacker’s Diet isn’t like those fad diets that push specific foods. It’s central point is “Eat fewer calories than you use, and you’ll lose weight.” To help me mentally, I started the diet by having bacon & fried egg sandwiches (with mayo) for breakfast for the first two weeks, and lost five pounds. Once my mind accepted that it wasn’t what I ate that mattered, but the energy input vs. energy consumption ratio, it was smooth sailing.

Bizarre Stuff You Can Make in Your Kitchen

Last week, a baseball player I’d never heard of (I understand he plays in the American league, which uses a freakish set of rules for the game) made news by signing a contract that will pay him a quarter-billion dollars (or, one “A-Rod”) over ten years. Jenn, of Whim & Vinegar, has composed a socialy conscious list of what one A-Rod could fund.

The Atlanta Thrashers host the St. Louis Blues tonight, and I’ll be there. It was a spur-of-the-moment decision to get tickets, so a few people’s Christmas presents might be late this year (once a month paydays mean budgets get juggled sometimes).

NPR has collected several songs poking fun at the presidential elections, called them “modern folk songs,” and put them on-line in Real Audio format.

Western China is primarily Islamic, with ethnic Chinese definitely in the minority. The difficulties of living a devout religious life within an officially athiest communist country is leading to quiet murmurs of discontent, and CNN is there, giving us a well-written colorful article.

Lunehaven Farm is “dedicated to providing a resource for interested individuals to rediscover traditional earth-based living. "

I came across this rather moving story about mouse-catching and focus, which is followed by an embarrassingly amusing story of a woman forced into urinating into a cup while driving. At the end of the story, I found that it happened here in Athens.