By way of wintersweet...

...and others, but hey, she provided the "short form!" =)

Edited-down version of wordy wishlist memoid:

Step One
- Post a list of 10 holiday wishes. Anything from simple and fandom-related ("I'd love a Snape/Hermione icon that's just for me") to medium ("I wish for _____ on DVD") to really big ("All I want for Christmas is a new car/computer/house/TV.") The important thing is, make sure these wishes are things you really, truly want.
- If you wish for real life things, include contact info in your post,
- Post these guidelines in your LJ so that the holiday joy will spread.

Step Two
- Surf around your friendslist or friendsfriends to see who has posted. And now here's the important part:
- Sometimes someone's trash is another's treasure, and if you have the magic wand--do it. You needn't spend money unless you want to. The point isn't to put people out, it's to provide everyone a chance to be someone else's holiday elf--to spread the joy. Gifts can be made anonymously or not--it's your call.

No rules, no guarantees, no strings attached.

1. Large rocks (boulders!), for landscaping purposes
2. New pickup truck with a large bed, for hauling things like large rocks and lumber and stuff
3. Eastern Hemlock trees or seedlings
4. Drain installed in basement floor
5. Complete score for Sarasate's Zigeunerweisen
6. Smaller rocks, for planting borders and stream-construction
7. Winterberry Holly shrubs
8. Bill Ward - Ward One: All Along the Way CD
9. G4 Notebook (Powerbook or iBook)
10. Lord Dunsany hardcovers

From the "It's just a theory" department...

Anti-evolution teachings gain foothold in U.S. Schools - Evangelicals see flaws in Darwinism

Once again, why we home school.

Last Friday, I gave my eldest son a worksheet on determining the differences between a scientific theory, law, and hypothesis. What do you know, a theory has been proven beyond reasonable doubt by multiple unrelated researchers, and can be viewed in repeatable experiments. In other words, it's not pure guesswork, it just is.

Shame they're misguiding hordes more to share in their stupidity. Most of them don't even understand what a theory (in scientific terms) is, let alone what Darwin's particular theory is about.

Heh. Just noticed the little quiz on the above link: "Which theory of the origin of the species should be taught?" Evolution - 25%; Intelligent Design - 2%; Both - 5%; My theory that the USA is rapidly devolving - 67%

Another Brick in the Wall dept.

Imagine calling your insurance company and explaining to them that a bank fell on your car.

Well, three lucky people get to make that call, their cars literally hit by a ton of bricks.

The Wachovia bank in Downtown Bethlehem lost most of its brick siding - falling from a 2-3 story height to decorate the hoods, windshields, and roofs of three cars parked along side. It doesn't look like anyone was inside the cars (therein lies the aforementioned luck, as the cars are certainly totaled), and the passer-by's managed to get out of the way. The parking lot provides a common thoroughfare for pedestrians.

The window in our office - facing Broad Street and at an excellent viewing angle to the wall of the bank - is quite busy. Crowds arriving from all over the office, matching or exceeding what is gathering outside (although with substantially less fire fighters and police officers).

For my part, the low woomph didn't sound out of place, maybe as loud as a truck going faster than it should and bumping along the road.

EDIT:
Random overheard stuff:
"It's pretty sad that our jobs are so exciting we have to go look at a wall."
"Do the firemen really think that their helmets will stop a brick with three stories worth of momentum?"
"It's a good thing the bank had the roof leak fixed this summer."
"Looks like they used the same contractors we did." (That one really inspires confidence - I think it refers to the guys who cut a hole in the wall to make a door and found lots of wires and the IRS office instead of a clean opening on to an unused storage space. If not, I'm afraid of what else they did around here).

EDIT: A co-worker snapped some quick pics almost immediately after the incident - he had actually been looking out the window when it happened!

EDIT: Looks like I was off on my "ton of bricks" estimate. Eight tons, according to this article in The Morning Call.

By way of kay_brooke:

( You know you're from... meme )