kurt vonnegut, 1922-2007

i couldn't possibly compose a memorial haiku that would do the man justice, so i'll instead quote from the Book of Bokonon:

In the beginning, God created the earth, and he looked upon it in His cosmic loneliness.

And God said, "Let Us make living creatures out of mud, so the mud can see what We have done." And God created every living creature that now moveth, and one was man. Mud as man alone could speak. God leaned close as mud as man sat up, looked around, and spoke. Man blinked. "What is the purpose of all this?" he asked politely.

"Everything must have a purpose?" asked God.

"Certainly," said man.

"Then I leave it to you to think of one for all this," said God.

And He went away.

not many men could fart around so eloquently. farewell, mr. vonnegut.

works in progress meme

via dglenn, "Post the first paragraph of any of your works in progress."

how about the first stanza?

I never thought I'd end up here in Texas
Thought my roots were finally planted in the ground
But no matter where you think you might be standing
The world just has a way of turning 'round

it's a WIP because it's not very good, obviously enough.

oh. my. fucking. god.

via jonquil: American Airlines launches a new page just for women. initially, it was pink, but they've changed the color -- however, they've still left off most of the functionality in the flight search box. because i guess us gals are just too stupid to understand difficult concepts like number of passengers, or how many hops the flight takes. but hey! they've added important stuff, like tips on how to choose an efficient travel wardrobe! what's not to like?

am i just confused? i could've sworn it was 2007 when i woke up this morning, not 1957.

in other news mystifying to women

From AP:

COLUMBIA, S.C. - A state Senate panel on Thursday dropped a measure from an abortion bill that would have made South Carolina the only state to require women to review an ultrasound image of the fetus before terminating a pregnancy.

Under the new proposal, a doctor would be required to tell a woman she has a right to have an ultrasound and see the images.

well. that's less ridiculous, at least.