New Taste Sensation: The Rubber Glove!

Just Watching The World Go By.

Somebody Captured The Moment.

The moment where Big Mama rolled Big Baby over onto his back happens at about 1:53. So very, very cute.

Aisle 16 At Orchard Supply Hardware.

That's where you can find the oil lamps. For those who might be interested because of the gully-washer that is supposed to eat California today, and the anticipated power outages.

We had an outage here a couple of weeks ago unrelated to a storm; report was, a transformer blew up over by the mall, and thousands of homes were without power for several hours.

Candles are not easy to read by. So ever since then, I've been looking on and off for an oil lamp.

The one I found looks a lot like this:



So if you're in the market for an oil lamp, try the hardware store.

He Crawled, I Swear.

No pictures this time, but just a couple of minutes ago, Mama Panda left the den--and the little chubster actually managed what looked like a few hesitant crawling steps. He did move a few inches, and he didn't do it by rolling, and his paws were going, both front and back.

Next thing I knew, Mama's snout crossed the den's threshold, followed by her paw--with which she rolled Chubby onto his back and then she left!

Maybe he isn't allowed to crawl without her permission?

Another Visit To The Vet

Awwww!

His little yap is going a mile a minute and I expect he's yelling for mama.

And In The News...

... stupid pirate tricks!

Dallas Concert Photos

A professional photographer hired by the Dallas Symphony to roam the concert hall during last month's concert with the Moody Blues has posted a slideshow of some of his images.

He captured our little front-row banner extravaganza during "I know you're out there somewhere." The banner read "Somehow you'll return again to TEXAS" and was created by Janet.



The banner holders, left to right, are Bonnie, Janet, Vanessa, Me, and Val.

Now you know how close we were to the stage. Just in case you didn't believe me before.

UPDATE: At Janet's insistence I am also posting the second banner photo, where Justin is stepping towards us. Woot!

Yes, Pandas Have Attacked People.

Just Google the topic; it's not hard to find out. The best-known attacks have been when drunk or stupid people have actually climbed into their enclosures, thus invading their territory.

Somebody invades my territory, I too have been known to bite.

Meanwhile... Chubby Cubbie continues to grow.

Chubby Cubbie.*

He's getting so big, it takes all 4 of mama's paws to manhandle him around.



* According to Chinese tradition, baby pandas are not to be given their names until they are 100 days old, so he's "Cubbie" for now.

His Eyes Are Open!

Whose eyes? You have to ask??



He yawned during part of his examination today, but let out quite a loud squawk when they gave him his first vaccination. Check out the video.

I Had To Be Nuts.

With a smile (or is that a grimace of pain?) on my face somewhere around mile 8 of the 10.6 mile walk.

Got the postcard in the mail today exclaiming that it was my LAST CHANCE!! to order 2009 Big Sur Marathon photos. And since I am way too cheap to pay their prices, we have a watermark. So sue me.

Anyone recognize the T-shirt?

Sacrilege!

Let Pandas Die out, Says Naturalist

Conservationists should "pull the plug" on giant pandas and let them die out, according to BBC presenter and naturalist Chris Packham.
...
The 48-year-old believes that money spent on conserving the panda would be better invested in other animals as the species is not strong enough to survive alone.

Well... he's entitled to his opinion, but needless to say, I do not share it.

Sure, a lot of money is being spent, and the bandwidth bill alone for the San Diego Zoo pandacam that I can't stop watching is probably more than my monthly rent... but dang it, there's something incredibly refreshing to the spirit to see these great big adorable fuzzballs in action. And that you cannot put a price tag on.

Dear Mister Packham: Can you look into those faces and wish them dead? Really? Honestly? Then you are a heartless b***ard, I say.

Growing Like A Weed.

Here is a shot taken just 1 month earlier, for comparison. I think the lil' rascal has at least doubled in size since then.

Me And Carbonite, Day 11

So I decided to succumb to the daily TV advertising and try Carbonite risk-free for 14 days.

I already back up all of my most important stuff to an external hard drive... but unless you carry that external hard drive off-site (which is kind of hard to do when it lives where you do), the same theoretical future disaster that turns your computer into melted slag will perform the same service for that external HD, at no extra charge.

One could, I suppose, park the external HD in a fireproof safe of some sort, but unhooking it from the computer and putting it there, and then getting it out again every time I needed to change a file (which happens daily) was just a little too much for my tolerance.

So, an online solution.

At $54.95 a YEAR, Carbonite sounded like a real bargain to me, so I tried it out.

It took 11 days for the first backup to complete, i.e. the full backup, because due to ISP bandwidth limitations it could only handle about 3 gigs a day. However... when I got up this morning, the backup was complete, with 3 whole days remaining on the free trial. From now on, it will only back up changed or new files--and it will all happen automatically, with no input needed from me.

And don't tell anybody... but I figured out (thanks to instructions published by some enterprising soul) how to "fool" it into thinking my main external hard drive is actually an internal drive, and thus eligible for backup. (Carbonite promises USB external hard drive support someday, but not right now.)

So now all of my important files are stored off-site, at a secure location--and available to be downloaded on any computer that has an internet connection. So next time I'm off gallivanting around in some undisclosed location and I simply MUST listen to "The Ballad of Serenity" or any other song that I don't have with me, I can simply go to my online backup files and retrieve it, from anywhere in the world.

Check Out This Little Bruiser.

All of 48 days old.

Peeky-BOO!

Okay, I'm getting tired of this game. Mom, would you come and get this leaf out of my face?



MOOOMMMMMMMM!!!!!

News From The World Of Science

I am not a scientist, nor do I play one on TV. The following was printed in our local newspaper yesterday. For some reason I cannot find the original article from the LA Times. I offer this for your perusal.

Physics beats scare tactics
Cell phones cannot give you cancer
By THOMAS H. MAUGH II
Los Angeles Times

In the most recent instance of the triumph of wishful thinking over basic physics, a "collaboration of international EMF activists" this month released a report repeating the tired argument that "cell phones cause brain tumors." Their evidence: Studies discrediting the link between cell phone radiation and tumors were funded by telecommunications companies, which deliberately excluded data that might have shown a link.

Many people probably first heard about the "risk" of cell phones when David Raynard, whose wife died of brain cancer, appeared on "Larry King Live" in 1993 to support his lawsuit claiming that the tumor had been caused by her cell phone. His evidence: "She held it against her head and talked on it all the time."

More recently, King hosted three neurosurgeons who said they would never place a cell phone against their head because of the risk. They may be good neurosurgeons, but apparently they flunked physics.

Read the rest of the article

Smile...

... you're on candid Pandacam!



Now wave at the camera!



Is this a better angle? Do you like my little chinny-chin-chin?



Enough! No more pictures today, please!