But maybe that would be too trendy.

Fascinating Fact: A year’s worth of my posts fits on this front page.

I know, the top post on my blog should be something other than an ages-old political joke.

And now, it’s not.

For some reason I’m often fascinated by geographical oddities, and this wouldn’t be the first time I’ve flown via Google Earth to Alaska’s Little Diomede Island. There, you can stand anywhere on the western slope of the island and look across the International Date Line to Big Diomede Island, part of Russia, 2 miles away.

Here’s the Google Earth view of the town of Diomede, Alaska, population 146:

(and here are some real pictures.)

Wikipedia notes, with citation, that Senator Ted Stevens is the only state elected official to ever visit the island.

Indeed, quite the hotbed of international diplomacy.

(Actually I think it sounds like an intriguing place. Who’s up for a road trip?)

Update 10:44pm: Michael Palin has been there.

I’m not a huge fan of either performer, but this mashup of Michael Jackson’s
Smooth Criminal with scenes from Fred Astaire’s movies is just brilliant. Spotted by Boing Boing, of course.

(I may also have to admit to a sudden crush on Cyd Charisse about 50 years too late.)

Post a cat picture.

Ever have one of those days you wish the world would just quit spinning for a few minutes?

Yeah.

While looking through the web stats for this site, I’ve noticed that a lot of people, maybe even the majority of them, have come here from a google search for cheap fisheye lenses made from door peepholes from the hardware store. Just to gratuitously fish for more web hits, here’s that picture again:

People from as far away as Thailand, Estonia, and the Philippines have reached here with that search. Isn’t the internet cooool?

I’ll add another fisheye picture as soon as I remember where I put the lens!

Also, I have to mention that I just saw in my access logs that I have two hits from someone web browsing on a Commodore 64. No lie. I am gratified to have such an honored elder visit this humble site. Glad to see the old fellow keeping up with the times. Such determination! :)

So an entire two posts back (hey, that’s over a month!) I declared to the world my dislike and distrust for cable companies. Had I been a slight bit less terse, I might have mentioned that I had no desire for any more television channels to soak up time, and no interest in sending money to yet another monopoly.

However, I’ve now waited seven years for DSL to become available to this location. There’s even a nice, probably non-monopolistic DSL provider in town, but out here in the sticks (three miles south of downtown Nashville) DSL service has yet to appear.

So I gave in. I’ve now got limited basic cable, and finally broadband at home. Ain’t I a little hypocrite! Wheee! Anyway I’ll be ditching Earthlink shortly, and then the landline phone, probably.

My previous post was a half-hearted, lame attempt to patch together three links that caught my eye today. Ignore it.

Don’t ignore the last link, though. It links to an article by former NBC Dateline reporter John Hockenberry. It’s a long, fascinating, and saddening look at what has become of network news.

P.S. Happy Introvert’s Day. I plan to celebrate by putting on some headphones and enjoying a cup of tea. Like I do most nights.

[edit 2/24/08: fixed dead link on the introvert story.]