Link Roundup

Real quick link roundup, mainly on the stuff that's near and dear to my heart:

Update on the status of the California fires, including a map from BBC so you can see where each fire is. FEMA, by the way, is the epitome of fabulous. They faked a news conference on the fires on Tuesday. Gave no notice to the press so they had their employees pose as reporters and give them questions that were, shall we say, less then impressive.

In other, slightly more happy/geeky news, a copy of the Koran sold for 1.1 million pounds sterling (that's about 2.2 million US dollars, give or take...). Why so much? It's from 1203 and written completely in GOLD. Yes, GOLD. Marginalia in silver. It reminds me of a little news item I saw a few weeks ago... when Ross Perot decided it was a good time to sell a little document called the MAGNA CARTA. Isn't that insane? It was the only copy of the Magna Carta in America. And why should we care about some old document that was the first codification of the rights of men against a tyrannical king? Well, aside from the obvious it was the basis of our own constitution.

Speaking of constitution, it's what we're doing this week in state and local. AGAIN. I'm as much in love with the Constitution as the next history geek, but this is the 6th time in 4 years, and it's not like we're going in depth, which would make it worth it...

And we all go mad slowly...

NaNo! (clap! clap!) WriMo! (clap! clap!) Screw the Federalist, Marx, Shakespeare for the reading and analysizing! Forget all my assignments! NaNoWriMo begins Thursday (which is scary because that means its, you know, NOVEMBER already!)

I have a fairly firm idea of this year's undertaking. I'm not even hoping to finish, just to beat my best effort, last year's 25,000 words (half way there!)

In other news, I'm working on my applications. Pray for me all! These things are scary.

I never have, and I never will, understand how some people can wake up in the morning when facing something horrible, like cancer in themselves or a loved one, and feel like they've failed in not greeting the day as joyfully as usual. I can't ever greet a day with joy, and these people... these people who could walk through glass walls with the power of their faith and never be scratched... they amaze me, and they make me wanna be a better person.

Amazingly, half the time I've been at this school, they've been my roommates.

We're all going to hell so deliciously...

Well, California is on fire again. 4 years to the day of the last bad fire, the Ceder Fire, which was within 5 miles of my home. Five miles may seem like a lot but for a fire it's nothing: remember, flying embers! Ceder was devestating: it wiped whole towns off the map. They're saying that Harris and Witch will be worse. I guess I should be mildly glad that my Aunt Evie passed away this past spring, or she'd have to evacuate, which would have been nye on impossible.

In other (even more depressing) news, the dollar hit a new all time low against the Euro. My dreams of going to school in London are looking bleaker and bleaker... and Trinity is probably right out. The new Dollar-Euro figures are close to the Dollar-Pound figures from two years ago, which is absurd for major currencies. Ye gods.

Right, so... I'm less then consistant. As I have no readership this should be a non issue.

Link Roundup!
Joey Bishop and Deborah Kerr died! Joey was the last of the old Rat Pack still alive, and as a girl raised on Sinatra and Martin et al, I'm a little sad. Deborah Kerr, of course, was Anna in the King and I, among many other roles. Moment of nostalgia for Old Hollywood when scandels were done properly and stars didn't make fools of themselves and always looked fabulous...

Apparently New York wants to use federal funds to pay for a museum commemorating Woodstock. I don't know exactly WHAT I think about that.

And because I can never harp on it enough, the Real ID thing. The standards for real id are coming out soon. I didn't really get a chance to puruse it totally-- at your lesure. The thing keeps getting pushed back, and funding keeps getting cut off. I just hope someone brings it up as the race to the primaries heats up.