Did you know

that Captain Cook named at least four different places "The Sandwich Islands"? Today they are known as Hawaii, Cook Islands, Efate (part of Vanuatu) and the South Sandwich Islands.

Half Price Price Books Clearance Sale this weekend

Big location, big selection, big savings! Everything will be $3 or less at the Minnesota Clearance Sale at the State Fairgrounds on Saturday & Sunday, October 17 & 18 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Grandstand. All seven Twin Cities stores are contributing merchandise to create our biggest Clearance Sale yet! So come to the Half Price Price Books Clearance Sale and fill your shelves with great books, movies and music at great prices!

Winter

Winter
Originally uploaded by soelo

It is here.
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Six Years

Today marks the six year anniversary of my blog. Should I feel guilty that I have blogged a lot less over the last year?

Today's Memos

To: the guy at the next table
Shut Up. Not only are you loudly talking about politics, you are not saying anything remotely original.

To: my future self
Have you taken the first test to become an actuary yet?

To: Grumpy Gus
Stop sighing every three seconds. If you have something to say, say it!
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Zoos and Aquariums

I don't remember the first time I went to either the Minnesota or Como Zoo, but I'm pretty sure it was in the eighties. But I have now been to 21 other zoos or aquariums: Shedd Aquarium (Chicago) 1993 and 2005, St. Louis Zoo 1994, Grant's Farm (St. Louis) 1994, California Academy of Science (San Francisco) 1998, San Francisco 1998, New England Aquarium 1999, Underwater World 1999, Columbus 2000, Cincinnati 2000, Newport Aquarium (Kentucky) 2000, Henry Doorly Zoo (Omaha) 2002, Blank Park Zoo (Des Moines) 2003, New Orleans Aquarium 2003, Fort Worth 2005, Lincoln Park (Chicago) 2005, Great Lakes Aquarium (Duluth) 2005, Santa Barbara 2006, Bioparco (Rome) 2007, Berlin Zoo 2008, National Zoo (DC) 2009, Atlanta Zoo 2009

Damn Good Food

Ever eaten at Hell's Kitchen in Minneapolis or Duluth? The chef and owner Mitch Omer has written a recipe book that comes out on October 1st. My favorite is the Mahnomin Porridge, mmm.

Wikipedia Games

There are games based on Wikipedia:
- Wikipedian Tag, where two people start on different pages, and move by following links
- Get to Philosophy, where you move through pages by selecting the first link on each page and end up at Philosophy or in a loop. I got to Philosophy from both of the random pages I tried: Jujols and Layanese.
-Wikipedia Maze which is a version of Six Degrees of Wikipedia.
-Wikirace, where you compete to travel from one article to another in the shortest number of steps.

All of those are based on the links, but work is underway for a Trading Card Game based on Wikipedia as well.

A Sure Sign of Fall

A Sure Sign of Fall
Originally uploaded by soelo

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2009 Fall TV (my version)

Here's what I plan to watch record:

9-12 Sit Down, Shut Up - FOX

9-13 King of the Hill - FOX

9-17 Survivor: Samoa - CBS
Fringe - Fox
The Office, Community, Parks & Rec, SNL Thursday - NBC
It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia - FX

9-20 Curb Your Enthusiasm - HBO
Bored to Death - HBO

9-21 Brick City - Sundance
How I Met Your Mother - CBS
Big Bang Theory - CBS

9-23 Old Christine - CBS
Modern Family - ABC

9-24 Grey's Anatomy - ABC
Flash Forward - ABC

9-25 Law & Order - NBC

9-26 SNL - NBC

9-27 Amazing Race - CBS
Simpsons, Family Guy, Cleveland Show - FOX
Extreme Makeover: Home - ABC

10-14 South Park - Comedy Central

10-15 30 Rock - NBC

11-03 V - ABC

Midseason: Scrubs, Lost, Chuck

Fun facts about Zanizibar:

The shortest war in history took place there on August 27th, 1896.
Freddie Mercury was born in Stone Town in Zanzibar City.
The first mosque in the Southern Hemisphere was built in Zanzibar by Arab traders.

Omnitheater

Omnitheater
Originally uploaded by soelo

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Celebrity Deaths

Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson. No, I didn't have anything to do with any of them!
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Summer in the City

There is less than a week left in June. It seems like the summer months go by so quickly. Yesterday I had movers come and move most of my stuff so now I have to get the last of it packed and moved and clean the apartment. My roommate will be moving his stuff this weekend too.
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Monosyllabic

A recent thread on Metatalk (subsite of metafilter) neatly summarizes how I feel about people who insist on posting their opinion of anything and everything, especially when said opinion is usually "Cool!" or "Lame!" or even "I saw this already!". The internet has allowed everyone to inflict their banalities on everyone else. These kinds of comments are pretty useless when it comes to things like movies, books, youtube videos or anything other widely available media. They only become powerful when aggregated into a rating system. I don't care that nycgal94 didn't like the book. I care that 95% of those who rated it didn't like the book.

So I try to keep my mouth shut (ha!) when it comes to media nuggets that I didn't like, unless I am asked directly or have a specific point to make. I will tell you that I hated the Matrix if you ask me, but if you post about it I'm not gonna post "hated it".

drunkmolly.jpg

drunkmolly.jpg
Originally uploaded by soelo

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June

June was named for the Roman goddess Juno, the patron goddess of (among other things) marriage. This is one reason June is a popular wedding month.

Car wash

Car wash
Originally uploaded by soelo

Springtime means car wash time.
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Rainbow

Rainbow
Originally uploaded by soelo

This is the eastern sky above Minneapolis right now!
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May

May was named after Maia, the eldest of the Pleiades and the mother of Hermes.