Tuesday wasn't the best day. But I made it.

Chapter 10 of HAUNTED has been edited. I just finished writing the Epilogue. Next, the Prologue. Then I'll edit both. I'm very pleased at how the Epilogue came together and ended things. The Prologue will not involve any of the main characters unless you count the dead ones. It'll be more like a typical horror short story for me and will set things up, hopefully the mood as well. It'll be kind of like that spooky door-knocker you're not sure you want to touch but darn it, it's Halloween and this here house looks like it has some bitchin' hand-outs.

Maybe it'll stop raining tomorrow. I doubt it. I've stopped checking the weather. It's just going to rain and storm from here to eternity in one shape or another.

I saw Michael Moore on TV the other day. He had a very simple question. Would you give your son, your first born or only born son to die to secure Fallujah? Fallujah is the city that still isn't under control in Iraq.

  ¶ 2:40 AM

  I'm working my way through chapter 10 of HAUNTED. After that, there's just the prologue and epilogue. I can't wait.

Last night I watched The Order. What a horrid movie? The movie had so much potential, but it never went anywhere. It never took advantage of any spooky Vatican stuff. There was little to no character development. We were given little flashbacks of some stuff in the past. The "sineater" was too French-like. He came off flat. He had the burden of explaining, not showing, why everything was happening, the whole point of the movie. And then in the last five minutes of this masterpiece, they try to turn it into The Crow movie for no damn reason.

Yes, I am pissed that I wasted so much time on The Order. If I was a mean person, I'd keep all this to myself in hopes that people would watch the movie and suffer like I did.

  ¶ 2:54 PM

  I write the truth. I just phrase it in fiction.

I just finished editing chapter 8 of HAUNTED and began on chapter 9. After that, there's chapter 10 to edit, and a prologue and an epilogue to write. I'm waiting until I finished with the chapters before the prologue and epilogue. Yes, the prologue may be the last thing written.

It is still raining. Everything is so damn damp. Mud, by itself, is very depressing. Mud is like sorrow. As you move through it, you get stuck. At least in winter, it'd be ice. Ice is destructive and evil, but it's not depressing. Neither is snow, but that's rare here. For some reason, I think maybe this is the year snow comes back to say hello. We'll see.

  ¶ 2:33 AM

  Early this mornin'
When you knocked upon my door
Early this mornin', ooh
When you knocked upon my door
And I said, "Hello Satan,
I believe it's time to go."

- Mr. Robert Johnson.

  ¶ 1:35 AM

  I saw some of H. R. Pufnstuf on TV tonight. So is that some kind of magic bong or dildo or something that the boy carries around in his pocket?

H.R. Pufnstuf,
Who's your friend when things get rough?
H.R. Pufnstuf,
Can't do a little cause you can't do enough.

What the hell? Do a little of what? I mean, what the hell?

  ¶ 1:11 AM

  My favorite spam:

FROM :MUSA IBRAHIM
ABIDJAN, IVORY COAST
WEST-AFRICA


BUSINESS AND PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP PROPOSAL.

DEAR FIREND,

IT IS MY HUMBLE PLEASURE AND TRUST, I WRITE THIS VERY IMPORTANT LETTER
TO
YOU, CONSIDERING YOU ARE CAPABLE AND KIND ENOUGH TO ASSIST ME IN THIS
SITUATION
I AM INTO NOW. I AM JUST TRYING TO KNOW IF YOU CAN BE OF HELP,
IRRESPECTIVE
OF THE FACT THAT WE DIDN'T KNOW EACH OTHER BEFORE OR HAVE MET FOR THE
THE
FIRST TIME IN LIFE. I CAME ACROSS YOUR CONTACT VIA INTERNATIONAL
PROFILE
IN MY EARNEST SEARCHING FOR A TRUTHFUL AND HONEST PERSON TO HANDLE THIS
TRANSACTION FOR ME, WHO WILL BE MY BUSINESS PARTNER, TRUSTEE OF MY
FATHER'S
FUND AND EVENTUALLY BECOME MY LIFE PARTNER.

I AM MUSA IBRAHIM, THE ONLY CHILD OF LATE DR AND MRS.KONAN IBRAHIM MY
FATHER
WAS A VERY WEALTHY COCOA MERCHANT BASED IN ABIDJAN, THE ECONOMIC
CAPITAL
OF IVORY COAST .

WHEN MY MOTHER DIED ON THE 21ST OCTOBE! R 1988, MY FATHER TOOK ME SO
SPECIAL
BECAUSE I AM MOTHERLESS.

BEFORE THE DEATH OF MY FATHER ON 20TH SEPTEMBER 2002 IN A PRIVATE
HOSPITAL
HERE IN ABIDJAN( CAUSED BY A BULLET WOUND HE SUSTAINED DURING THE COUP
D'ETAT AGAINST OUR COUNTRIES RULING GOVERNMENT WHICH STARTED 19TH
SEPTEMBER
2002) . HE SECRETLY CALLED ME ON HIS BEDSIDE AND TOLD ME THAT HE HAS A
SUM
OF US$9,000,000 (NINE MILLION UNITED STATES DOLLARS) LEFT IN A SUSPENCE
ACCOUNT IN A LOCAL BANK HERE IN ABIDJAN, THAT HE USED MY NAME AS HIS
ONLY
SON FOR THE NEXT OF KIN IN DEPOSIT OF THE FUND. INFORMATION REACHING US
BEFORE HIS DEATH HAVE IT THAT IT WAS THE LOYAL TROOPS THAT SHOT MY
FATHER
BECAUSE THEY SAW THE COUP D'ETAT AS A MOSLEM VERSUS CHRISTAIN UPRISING.
THE GENERAL BELIEVE HERE IS THAT THE FORMER MILLITARY DICTATOR GENERAL
ROBERT
GUEI, WAS SUSPECTED TO BE BEHIND THE COUP D'ETAT WAS A MOSLEM AND
THEREFORE
HE WAS ACCUSED OF DOING THAT ON A RELIGOUS BASIS. THOUGH HE WAS KILLED,
THE GOVERNMENT LOYAL TROOPS WHEN ! AHEAD KILLING ALL MOSLEM AT RANDOM.

WHAT PAINED ME MOST IS THAT I WAS TRYING TO GET CONVERTED TO
CHRISTAINITY
AND KNOW THE TRUTH ABOUT THAT RELIGION BUT NOW I AM LOST.

MY FATHER THEREFORE INSTRUCTED ME TO SEEK FOR A FOREIGN PARTNER IN A
COUNTRY
OF MY CHOICE WHERE I WILL TRANSFER THIS MONEY AND USE IT FOR INVESTMENT
PURPOSE, (SUCH AS REAL ESTATE MANAGEMENT OR A GOOD BUSINEES).

I AM HONOURABLY SEEKING YOUR ASSISTANCE IN THE FOLLOWING WAYS.

1)TO PROVIDE A BANK ACCOUNT WHERE THIS MONEY WOULD BE TRANSFERRED TO
2)TO SERVE AS THE GUARDIAN OF THIS FUND SINCE I AM A BOY OF 17 YEARS
3)TO MAKE ARRANGEMENT FOR ME TO COME OVER TO YOUR
COUNTRY AFTER THE MONEY HAS BEEN TRANSFERRED.
4)FINALLY, TO START THINKING IN LINE OF HAVING ME AS YOUR LIFE PARTNER
IF
THINGS WORK OUT WELL AND IF WE FIND INTEREST IN EACH OTHER.

MOREOVER, I AM WILLING TO OFFER YOU 10% OF THE TOTAL SUM AS
COMPENSATION
FOR YOUR EFFORT/INPUT AFTER THE S! UCCESSFUL TRANSFER OF THIS FUND TO
YOUR
NORMINATED ACCOUNT OVERSEAS.

BY THE GRACE OF ALMIGHTY, I BELIEVE THAT THIS TRANSACTION WOULD BE
CONCLUDED
WITHIN SEVEN (7) DAYS .

ANTICIPATING TO HEAR FROM YOU SOON.

THANKS AND GOD BLESS YOU
MUSA IBRAHIM

  ¶ 2:26 PM

  I finished Liquor by Poppy Z. Brite last night. That book made me hungry.

Last night, I also saw Michael Graves on The Daily Show. Michael Graves used to be the lead singer for a band I love, The Misfits. Glenn Danzig was the original singer way back in the late 70's and early 80's. The band reformed in the 90's. Michael Graves is long gone from the band. After seeing him last night, I'm glad. He's an idiot.

First, he's still wearing the makeup he wore while in The Misfits, which is the Crimson Ghost, the skeleton face dude. Second, he's supporting Bush and talked about being a Republican. Michael Graves is an idiot. I'm not saying everybody who's supporting Bush is an idiot. He's mislead enough people that I believe most supporters are dazed and confused with elephants up their asses. I'm just saying that Michael Graves is an idiot.

Also on the Daily Shows, they showed a clip of Bush saying that he didn't remember seeing a memo about the Geneva Convention and how it doesn't really apply to terrorism. Then on the Daily Show, they showed the memo with Bush's signature.

Tonight on the Daily Show, Michael MOORE (not Graves). I wonder if Moore will have anything to say about Bush.

The weather was foul here about an hour ago. When it left here, it went on to do some damage else where. And it's not finished today either. We're in a wet pattern right now. We've got a few more days of this. It already floods here now. This summer is going to be rough. If the wet sticks around until winter, things will be really fun then.

I'm making my way through chapter 7 of HAUNTED. After that, I have three more chapters to edit and have to write a prologue and an epilogue. Then finally, I think she'll be ready for the next round (submissions).

  ¶ 12:40 PM

  My dad is addicted to Diablo.

  ¶ 1:53 AM

  SpaceShipOne Makes History with First Manned Private Spaceflight

From Space.com:

SpaceShipOne Makes History: First Manned Private Spaceflight
By Leonard David

MOJAVE, CALIFORNIA – The first non-governmental rocket ship flew to the edge of space today and was piloted to a safe landing on a desert airport runway here.

Civilian test pilot, now turned astronaut Mike Melvill brought SpaceShipOne down to the Mojave Airport tarmac after flying to 100 kilometers (62 miles) in altitude, leaving the Earth’s atmosphere during his history-making sub-orbital space ride.

After touchdown, Melvill rolled past thousands of spectators in the early morning Sun, flashing the thumbs up. Then he got out and spoke to the cheering crowd.

"The flight was spectacular," Melvill said. "Looking out that window, seeing the white clouds in the LA Basin, it looked like snow on the ground."

Roaring to life

Take-off occurred at about 9:45 a.m. ET, or 6:45 a.m. local time, with SpaceShipOne tucked under the White Knight carrier craft.

Once set free an hour later, and after a few seconds of glide control at around 47,000 feet, Melvill ignited SpaceShipOne’s hybrid rocket motor. From the ground, flame and smoke could be seen as the rocket plane roared to life and shot upward through Mojave Desert skies. Slicing skyward and outside the Earth’s atmosphere, the vehicle and pilot spent about three minutes in freefall weightlessness.

"As I got to the top I released a bag of M&Ms in the cockpit. It was amazing," said Melvill, 62.

During the reentry process, Melvill flipped SpaceShipOne’s large tail section up, a step needed to slow the vehicle down as it nosed itself toward a terra firm touchdown.

After the speed-reducing maneuver, SpaceShipOne’s tail piece was put back into glide mode. The vehicle circled overhead as onlookers who had filled up local motels and camped at the airport cheered. The craft landed at around 11:15 a.m. ET directly in front of a public viewing area on the same runway on which it took off roughly an hour and a half earlier.

Melvill reported hearing a bang during the high-altitude portion of the flight. Something was seen hanging from the bottom of the craft at the landing site. There appeared to be damage at or near the left rear landing gear, but it was not clear if it had anything to do with the bang.

Step-by-step test program

Scaled Composites, designer and builder of the rocket plane, say the successful mission will "demonstrate that the space frontier is finally open to private enterprise."

"This event could be the breakthrough that will enable space access for future generations," a pre-launch Scaled Composites press statement explains.

Microsoft cofounder turned investor and philanthropist, Paul Allen is the behind-the-scenes financial backer of the project, joining forces with aviation designer, Burt Rutan, chief of Scaled Composites.

"It's hard for me to talk right now," Rutan said moments after the landing. He said he was very pleased with the flight and called the landing "beautiful."

Melvill, a test pilot and vice president-general manager of Scaled Composites, called the flight a mind-blowing experience. "It all worked exactly as you told us," he said to Rutan. When asked what he would do next, Melvill said: "I think I'll back off a little bit and ride my bike."

High-altitude record

Since the White Knight carrier plane first took to the air in early August 2002, a step-by-step test program has been instituted by Scaled Composites. To date, given today’s success, there have been 57 flights of hardware associated with this morning’s mission of SpaceShipOne.

The rocket plane itself has now undertaken a series of 14 piloted captive carry, free-flight, and four engine-powered missions. Today’s event marked the highest-altitude ever reached by a non-government aerospace program.

SpaceShipOne project officials have already begun gearing up for flying back-to-back missions of the craft in order to snag the $10 million Ansari X Prize. This international competition can be won by the first team to create a reusable aircraft that can launch three passengers into sub-orbital space, return them safely home, then repeat the launch within two weeks with the same vehicle.

Anthony Duignan-Cabrera contributed to this report from the Mojave Airport.

  ¶ 1:43 PM

  I have tried to do as little as possible today. I really needed a day off from everything. I've watched a lot of TV, caught up on some reading, and learned how to play the solo to Sympathy for the Devil.

I just finished watching part one of Salem's Lot, the TV remake. So far, it hasn't been bad. They've made cleaver use of VENAL ANATOMICA, an action figure from Clive Barker's Tortured Souls. The only thing that I wish that the remakers didn't do was set the story in modern times. I cringe when I hear dot-com speak. Yeah, I do. It wasn't too long ago that I was thinking about how I never seem to write about computers or the net -- both are very important parts of my life.

Tomorrow, I'll get up and start again editing HAUNTED. I'm through the difficult chapters... for now. I'm more than halfway through the editing process. I really can't wait to get this done. Then I can move on to something else to fret and worry over.

Hey, the Thundercats are cool.

  ¶ 11:04 PM

  "It's been a hard day's night. And I've been working like a dog." - A Hard Day's Night, The Beatles.

  ¶ 1:45 AM

  With just two hours of sleep, you too can achieve the following:

The phone rang this morning. It was my dad. His Toyota truck was broke down about halfway home. He works nights and was headed home. I had to help him out. Somehow, his fan belt broke, and he tried to drive home. That's usually not good for an engine.

So we go buy a new belt and go back to the truck, which is an '86 model. I'm looking at the thing trying to figure out how to get the belt on it. The belt needed to fit around the fan and then loop around some pulleys. The problem is that there was another belt in the way, one that ran round the Air Conditioner.

Then I had my moment. Everything became clear. We didn't know of a way to loose the AC and take it's belt off. The Toyota is a small truck with a small engine with a lot of impossible angles to work in. I looked at my dad and said, "Cut the belt. Your AC doesn't work right. Eventually it'll catch on fire. Cut the belt." See, I have experience with this. My AC thingy locked up, caught on fire one day, and thankfully snapped it's belt. Afterwards, the engine ran better than it had in years. I serious. I told him cut the belt to the AC.

It didn't dawn on me until he had cut the belt that I know little to absolutely zero about car engines. It was too late. He was listening to me. And nothing good could have come from that.

We get the belt on. We even found a way to loosen the Alternator and position it to get the belt on and tightened it. Then I read the Toyota book. It said the belt needed to give 1/8 or 1/2 an inch or something like that. It said you could use some tool to measure it, but if you didn't have it, you could use a ruler. I told my dad it was too tight. And here's his tragic flaw, he listened to me again.

He loosened the Alternator a bit. And just as he was tightening it back up, the bolt broke. Oh, it snapped right off. And my dad looked at me like I knew how to fix it. He should know better than that. Then something came to me again. If we could get a bolt on the other side of the Alternator, it would push it and keep the belt tight.

We got a bolt, washer, and nut on and fixed the Alternator still and the belt tight. It was time to head home. My dad mentioned something about if things looked good, he was going to go to Mr. Warren's. Mr. Warren is a retired mechanic that still works on cars. He's good, really good. He's brought my car back from the dead a few times.

We headed out and just as we are about to turn onto the road to home, he continues on toward Jasper. Oh boy. We were going to push it today. When we got to Mr. Warren's, the truck was smoking a little. That's always a good thing. But there wasn't anybody home. Mr. Warren is out of town. So we turned around and headed home. I followed as close as I could. But at the same time, I didn't want to be too close to the truck. I'm pretty sure the truck hates me.

So we're waiting now for Mr. Warren to get back in town. We've already set things up with his wife. When he gets back, he'll drill out the screw and fix things.

So Boys and Girls, save up your money for a torque wrench. That's the lesson here, right?

  ¶ 3:16 PM

  Terror Alert Level

I may add this to my site. It's Terror Alert Levels using Oscar for Green, Cookie Monster for Blue, Bert for Yellow, Ernie for Orange, and Elmo for Red. How fitting for Elmo.

  ¶ 1:56 AM

  Def Con Alerts: Collect them All!

I'm thinking about adding this to my site. I enjoy the referrence to Wonka, but I hate Ashcroft. Evil bad man.

  ¶ 1:53 AM

  Cassini-Huygens Home

Cassini-Huygens is the NASA mission to Saturn and Titan. NASA has just published some photos of Phoebe (Saturn Moon) that are just amazing. And it's just the beginning.

Go to the site and click on "Why go to Saturn?" Try the Flash version.

On July 1, 2004, Cassini will go into orbit around Saturn. I can't wait.

  ¶ 2:49 AM

  When there's no more room in Hell, the dead will walk the earth.

Get ready folks.

  ¶ 3:13 AM

  There is now a preset on my amp named Black Sabbath. Today I was playing too loud trying to figure out "Into The Void" by the Almighty Black Sabbath. I had a few notes, but the rest weren't on my guitar. I looked up the guitar tab online. Sure enough, the notes weren't on my guitar.

I had forgotten that Tony Iommi tunes down... tunes down to C#. That's one and a half steps down. I am not a fan of tuning down. I don't think my guitars like it that much. Plus, drop D tuning is used as a crutch for every other band these days.

So I decided to try my pitch shifter on my amp. Low and behold, things didn't sound all that bad. Yes, I was tuned down using my amp, but it didn't sound like Joe Guitar in Druggie Ford, Flaccid Shortcakes, Maze, or Loosen Entanglement -- is it wrong for me to say Flaccid Shortcakes instead of Limp Biscuit?

Anyway, the notes were on the guitar, and I love playing the song. In fact, now other songs on Master of Reality seem kind of easy. Ah, Tony, you trickster! I also figured out how to play "Don't Fear the Reaper," which isn't an Almighty Black Sabbath song, but they should cover it. They don't really do a lot of covers. Also, for full disclosure, I'm writing this while listening to... Cowboy Junkies, the song "House in the Country" in particular.

Well, it's late. I need to read, write, and do some math.

  ¶ 1:50 AM

  Ray Charles, Pioneer of Soul Music, Dies in Los Angeles at 73

From Bloomberg.com:

"June 10 (Bloomberg) -- Ray Charles, the blind musician who pioneered soul music by blending gospel and blues, has died. He was 73.

Charles died of complications from liver disease today at his home in Beverly Hills, said Eric Raymond, a spokesman for his publicist, Solters & Digney, in Los Angeles.

Charles was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986 and won numerous Grammy Awards. His best-selling songs included ``Georgia on My Mind,'' ``Ruby,'' ``Hit the Road Jack,'' ``I Can't Stop Loving You,'' ``You Don't Know Me'' and ``Crying Time.''

He was born on Sept. 23, 1930, in Albany, Georgia. He was the first child of Aretha and Baily Robinson and was raised in Greenville, Florida.

Charles contracted glaucoma at the age of 6, and it eventually left him blind.

He studied music composition and learned to play several musical instruments, including the piano and the saxophone while spending nine years at the St. Augustine School for the Deaf and the Blind."

  ¶ 4:12 PM

  The water pressure is really low today. That makes shower time soapy time.

Last night I watched Joe and Max which surprised me. Joe and Max is the true story of boxers Joe Louis and Max Schmeling from 1936 to 1952. In school, my history books that barely mentioned Joe Louis also mentioned "Nazi Fighter" Max Schmeling.

As it turns out, Max was not a Nazi. He was just a boxer like Joe. They both had problems with their own governments. They both had womens troubles. Yes, womens. Both were soldiers in WWII. Neither were Saints. And there are a few strange facts thrown in the movie as well. After the war, Max Schmeling was a farmer and then was hired on at Coca-Cola and sat on their board of directors until 2002 when he retired at the age of 95. Apparently, Max could sell Coke across the globe... well, not here in America.

The movie looks good. The actors all do a nice job. The guy who plays Hitler looks like the guy and plays up Hitler's creepy side. Yes, creepy side. He seemed to have taken a liking to Max's wife. The boxing was pretty good, not the best, but pretty good. It's probably better than most when you think about other boxer movies out there. I just can't help but to think of Play it to the Bone where Woody Harrelson and Antonio Banderas really do box. I can't remember if that was a good movie or not, just that the boxing was real good because they were really boxing. And because of Play it to the Bone its hard not to see a boxing movie and think that the boxing could be better.

So if you have a chance, watch Joe and Max. It's a boxing movie with Nazis, WWII, and dames. How could you go wrong?

  ¶ 4:02 PM

  I had this dream where Allison Stewart wanted me to give her driving directions, bring her breakfast, and catch her a few lizards. This is what I get for going back to sleep this morning with the news on.

  ¶ 11:49 AM

  My neighbor died today. I haven't seen him in years nor has he lived in his house in years. He has been in prison.

I remember him as a nice guy. I've learned that he wasn't exactly the nicest man. In different times, he was the cross bearer for a group of nut-job-nitwitts in hoods and sheets. I never knew that side of the man. Growing up, he was always nice to me and my friends no matter what color their skin was.

He had a stroke a few years ago and never was expected to live long. He wanted to come home and die in his house. He even went up for parole. He didn't get it and spent the last few years of his life in a bed in a prison hospital. He was guilty of his crime, sex with a minor. I believe she was seventeen, the daughter of the woman that was living with him.

Many years ago, my dad and the neighbor started the Dora Rescue Squad. They used an old car either like the Ecto in the Ghostbusters movie or one very similar. I used to play in that car when I was as old as I was in the picture on the front of my site. They started the Rescue Squad because there was a time when ambulances were either hard to come by or were hard pressed to come by here. Together, they saved a lot of lives and prompted ambulance services to come through here. Today, Dora has their own ambulance that does the same job as the Rescue Squad. The name has been retired, but not the notion or function.

It is a grey world. Seldom are people either good or bad. I'm intensely interested in why people do the things that they do. I spend of lot of time in my writings setting things up, paths and consequences for actions and their explanations. I never really knew my neighbor after childhood. I played in his yard a lot then, a tire swing that hung over one of those giant spools for cable. I used to jump off of that and hang to the swing. The tree is now gone. As soon as he went away, the tree died. It took a few years, but it slowly fell away. His son burned the stump down. It's practically gone now.

I hate that he died where he died. But I never felt bad for him being in prison.

Ironic. I'm editing Haunted. I'm just about to the point when all of a sudden somebody dies and life takes a slight curve. Life is full of curves. It's like there are no straight lines to anything, not even to death. Maybe it's all circular logic, looping and curving back on itself either explaining or setting up the good and evil of us and this world. Kind of like a cosmic/spiritual six degrees of separation but for actions and meanings. Then again things could be nothing but accidents and chances. I think that would be disappointing.

  ¶ 1:34 AM

  ALLIES HAVE INVADED FRANCE.

I watched MSNBC's special on D-Day where they reported it as if they would have reported it if they had been there 60 years ago with embedded reporters and such. I can not explain the glee I felt when they began the special by interrupting regular programming with the headline, ALLIES HAVE INVADED FRANCE.

Personally, I think we need to liberate the French soil from the French feet.

I also watched The Day After Tomorrow. I haven't wasted so much time since I watched Patch Adams. I knew going into The Day After Tomorrow the science was going to be off. And since I enjoy Twister, I was at the very least hoping for a fun special effects ride. Yeah, snow's kind of cool and so are the storms. But two hours of it isn't all that great. And to be honest, they were good, but not very dramatic or dynamic. Yeah, water can crash into a city... slowly.

The science. I tried to get over it but they just kept going horribly wrong with it. It's like two plus two equals five over and over. The first time, you may go, "Yeah, it's just part of the film. They needed that to get past a few things and make a great movie." But after a while, you're yelling "Four dammit, four!"

Plot... I barely remember their attempt at one.

The Science Part II. Global warming will cause problems like in the movie. Just not over night. We've got fifty years before that stuff. I hate to say this, but I hope people do see the movie and become a little concerned about our future. Remember kids, our Prez still says he's not sure there is such a thing as global warming. Pay no mind to strange weather we've been having for the last few years. And in fifty, pay no mind to the new coastline either. It'll be in my backyard, and I'll finally have a beach-side house... in central Alabama.

I'm now going to go try to fly around the world, go back in time and stop myself from watching that horrid movie. I know, how wrong of me to hope others see it. I didn't need to see it. I already believe in global warming. I also didn't need to see Patch Adams either. I believed in him, too.

"Four dammit, four!"

  ¶ 2:27 AM

  E! Online News - "Curb" Curbs Injustice

From E! Online News:

"I tell people that I've now done one decent thing in my life," show creator and star David said in this week's New Yorker. "Albeit inadvertently."

The case of the do-gooding Curb dates back to last year when David's cast and crew did a location shoot at Los Angeles' Dodger Stadium.

The footage, which would air Feb. 8 as part of the "Car Pool Lane" episode, found David's character, Larry David, taking in a baseball game with a prostitute played by Kym Whitley. (Long story short: Larry hires a hooker so he can drive in the freeway carpool lane, so he can make the game in time.)

Coincidentally, the footage also found Juan Catalan, then 24, taking in the game with his six-year-old daughter. Catalan was not an actor, he was just a fan--but he was about to become newsworthy.

One month after watching the Dodgers get whupped 11-4 by the Atlanta Braves, Catalan was arrested at his North Hollywood home, accused of fatally shooting a 16-year-old girl who'd testified against his brother and another man, who were facing charges in a double-murder case, at a preliminary hearing.

Catalan, who was booked on suspicion of murder and faced death penalty-weighted special-circumstance charges, maintained his innocence, saying he couldn't have killed the teen because he was at the Dodger game the night of May 12, 2003, during the time of the slaying.

To prove his client's alibi, defense attorney Todd Melnik asked to review Dodger Stadium's fan-cam footage from the game. Catalan's camp was acting on more than a hunch that the accused man might turn up onscreen.

"[Catalan] saw some TV cameras being used near his aisle," Melnik said Thursday. "He knew something was going on."

But while one shot showed Catalan's third-base field-level seats were occupied, the shot didn't clearly show who was occupying them.

Then Melnik learned of the Curb Your Enthusiasm connection.

Last December, as Catalan logged his fourth month in county jail, Melnik sat in an editing bay and watched all the Dodger Stadium footage shot that spring night by the David show.

David had been more than happy to help.

"It sounded very cool because my life is very lacking in anything interesting," David told the New Yorker.

Melnik, previously not a Curb fan, sat through about 20 minutes of film, becoming disheartened with each passing frame that failed to show his client.

"And then--bam!--all of a sudden, [Catalan] was there. And I was like, 'Stop the tape. Roll that back,' " Melnik said.

David popped into the edit bay shortly after Melnik's discovery. He told the attorney "maybe I'll write an episode about it," Melnik said.

Armed with the Curb defense, Catalan was released from jail in January, and the charges against him were dismissed.

The man recently filed a claim against the City of Los Angeles charging, among other things, false imprisonment.

David, meanwhile, is continuing to bask in the glow of his accidental good deed.

Said the comic in a statement this week: "I'm quitting the show to devote the rest of my life to freeing those unjustly incarcerated."

  ¶ 2:30 PM

  I just found out that my weather blog looks bad in Internet Explorer. It's a problem with the posts that include "=" over and over. Later today, hopefully, I'll find a work around. Here's a work around people, stop using Internet Explorer! You're just opening yourself up to bad things anyway.

  ¶ 3:32 AM

  Last night I started editing chapter 3 of HAUNTED. I ran out of ink. I go through a lot of ink pens. When I got another one, I opened it up to check to see if there's ink it. Then I wanted to double check the other one because it had a good feel to it. I use only one type, Black Medium Papermate Flexgrips. I opened the used one up and noticed that the ink tube thingy is all bent. I found another used one and checked it. It was the same. I think that's from me pressing down hard when I write, which I know I do.

I watched the IKE movie on A&E. I love A&E. I liked the movie, and enjoy WWII stuff. Tom Selleck took a bit of getting used to because he's Tom Selleck. Other than that, it was fine. The movie once again reminded me that the French are insane. It's like they can't stand the embarrassment of having to tell people that you're lost and need directions. It's either that or they want to be the bad guys. With all the little they've done for us and the rest of Europe in the 60 years since we liberated them, if something were to happen again, I don't think anybody would want to liberate them. But we would though.

  ¶ 1:16 PM