Friday Pet Blogging | Lets Watch TV!

Yea! Pet Blogging continues at Prophet or Madman. (You see, I know you only come here for my cats.) Anyway ... today's photo was taken on Sunday, April 8, by Mrs. Brainwise using my Treo 700p. She thought Otis looked so cute and comfortable all curled up next to me as I watched a little TV that morning.

And one by one, the pet blogging posts steal my sanity ...

More Pet Blogging See the Friday Ark, featuring a compilation of today's pet blogging posts, over at The Modulator. Check the M&O Archives for some previous Milo & Otis appearances. Carnival of the Cats, coming at you every Sunday. And one of the funniest/cutest/obsessivest (OK, I know that's not a word!) sites for cat photos, StuffOnMyCat.com is a must see. Take it from them: Stuff + Cats = Awesome!

Soul to Soul, and Sole to Sole | RIP Kurt Vonnegut (1922-2007)

I'm late on reporting this, as I actually heard it on the radio around 7:30am this morning, but for anyone who might have missed this ... Kurt Vonnegut is dead at the age of 84. You can go ahead and scour the 'net for reports. Here are a few to get you started:

• Kurt Vonnegut dead at 84 - Washington Post
• Joseph A. Palermo: Kurt Vonnegut - Yahoo! News
• Author Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Dies - Voice of America
• Kurt Vonnegut, 1922-2007 - TIME
• Kurt Vonnegut, influential author of 'Slaughterhouse-Five,' dies at 84 - The Daily News
• Kurt Vonnegut dead at 84 - Washington Post, DC

The word "author" seems almost inadequate to ascribe to Mr. Vonnegut, though he was many a person's favorite writer. His works touched upon social commentary (or criticism) and science fiction with a flare of the autobiographical tossed in for good measure. I first encountered his wit and mischevious style in Slaughterhouse-Five -- based on his own experience of the bombing of Dresden during WWII -- and Cat's Cradle -- a rapidfire story that pokes fun at technology and religion while satirizing the arms race (remember Boku Maru and Ice 9?). Both of which I read for a class on American humor in literature. I do admit to being woefully behind in reading Vonnegut's more recent works, but will still claim these two books as my favorite works by him. Vonnegut was a self-professed pessimist, and probably something along the lines of a radical humanist ;) . And we are all the poorer for the loss of his light and insight in this world. Wherever ya are, Kurt (for I realize you probably did not give much thought to an afterlife, particularly one of the Christian persuasion), I wish you well. I would like to imagine that you are in an honored seat, drinking and boasting with whatever Gods will have you.

Skaldic Project homepage

The Skaldic Project is an international project to edit the corpus of medieval Norse-Icelandic skaldic poetry. Their homepage features an Introduction to the project, a Skaldic database, some manuals, a Newsletter, photographs, and other interesting bits and pieces. Check it out: http://skaldic.arts.usyd.edu.au/db.php?table=home

Stonehenge Amulets?

Discovery Channel News has an interesting piece on some items that have been dubbed 'stonehenge amulets'

Stonehenge Amulets Worn by Elite April 6, 2007 Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News Photo from article (credit: National Museums Scotland) Forget dressing for success: Clothing ornaments thought to confer supernatural power were all the rage among chiefs and other important people in England 4,000 years ago, say scholars. A recent find indicates some of these fashion trends might have originally been designed by Stonehenge leaders. While working two months ago in South Lowestoft, Suffolk, British archaeologist Clare Good excavated a four-sided object made of the mineral jet. It closely matches a geometrically designed gold object found far away at a burial site called Bush Barrow near Stonehenge in Wiltshire. The match is so close that experts believe the black artifact is a skeuomorph, or a copy in a different material. ... Editor Mike Pitts describes the jet object as having "two parallel lines around the edge, supporting 12 pendant semi-circles inside with a double circle and dot in the center. Small floating lines of rocker decoration, some on the side facets, complete the design." [ Full Story ]

Absent

Due to a slight change at my day gig--I had to take on more tasks after a colleague left--I've been remiss in posting. If you're a regular visitor here, you probably miss the pics of Milo and Otis more than my rants or news gleanings. For whatever reason you take time out of your day to stop here, I apologize for not having new content for you. I plan to correct the dearth of posts this very week. And maybe even have some cat photos.