DAY ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY FOUR

I just found out some great news from one of the ALASKAN CRUISE 2015 vacayers!!! Congrats jimotron and jan!!!!

Today it's a gross day! Get it? Ha! Actually, it's a really wonderful day outside - nice enough that I woke up *before* the alarm clock to stretch in bed, wishing that today was not a workday. And did you know that Shakespeare was partially or fully responsible for turning the non-number gross into what it is now?

I was asked to take a bet yesterday that I wish I had taken having to do with land area of various countries. I think I'd have been able to persuasively argue winning the massively important one lira bet. In lieu of that, though, I'd like my loyal readers, including those weird new hits I keep getting from Latvia, Japan, Ukraine, Slovenia and Malaysia (with several of the hits coming from search terms involving sonicwall and porn) to know:

Saint Pierre and Miquelon - one day, I'll remember their names - which I've written about before.  Nobody ever remembers it though. They use the Euro! And they're so close to Canada! And one of them lost its sole inhabitant!

I think that one of my friends must have posted this or sent it to me, because I found it open on my desktop today.  One of the foremost balloon sculptors of the world! 

OH MY GOD I DEMAND THAT YOU WATCH THIS VIDEO OF A LIONESS TRYING TO EAT A LITTLE BABY. And here's the full video. 

I gotta be honest: I think this biography is one of the least necessary I've seen in a long time (not the book, but the write up of the author's bio). Sunday book review time!

Here's a fun article about blimps with some interesting posters. I always wished there were more blimps - or, apparently as I've learned now, blimps, semi-rigid or rigid airships - which are really fun to see in the sky, but often seemed featured only over football games as far as I remember. Goodyear what what! And I love this picture of a series of floating ships.

And now, for the "scary but true" section of the blog.  CONVICT POKER! It's actually less poker and more a chicken/very angry bull game. And it's at the prison which houses the Angola 3 (now less than 3 but still really important), also previously written about on the blog, along with this one about solitary.

National Eagle Repository? Craaazy!