JONNYQUEST

There were three stories that appeared on the same page of the newspaper this weekend that caught my attention. One was the Globally Updated Version of the Dr. Seuss classic the Zax, i.e. Manouchehr and Condoleezza—better-known as Mottaki and Rice (I thought mottaki was a kind of rice…)—sharing an ice cream at the Ministerial Conference in Egypt last week. Another was of the capsizing of a boatload of Haitians—many of whom were devoured by sharks before they had a chance to drown—trying to make it to the promised land. The third article had to do with a boy in Kansas who stabbed a duck and her two ducklings to death, a story making national news no doubt because we are now all on the lookout for Seung-Hui Cho-like early warning signs in all our children, whereas the “Get Off My Lawn!” 8-Mile Style has barely even made a local mark. Perhaps the thread linking these stories—besides the “other news from around the world, country, city” theme of the page—is that there is a bitter irony, an odd coincidence or one-liner fest attached to each. [b]SHARM EL-SHEIKH, not CHARM, ALL CHIC[/b] [u]One State Two States, Red State, Blue States[/u] Does anyone else here smell the irony?

JONNYQUEST

Continued from

HOBBLEIT

Hi there, I finished my dissertation today, YES!!!!!!!!! Yes I did need all those exclamation marks. 8642 words, about 40 pages and four months of hell and it is finally done. God i'm relieved. In case you care it's on the living conditions of miners in East Durham between 1900 and 1939. It's probably all bollocks but as long as it is passable bollocks I couldn't give a monkeys about how it is. It just needs printing and binding and then it is ready for handing in. I'll do that all next week since it isn't due until the 18th. Now I want to pass out and sleep for, like, a week. TTFN Jennifer

RIVER6213

Not to be sounding mean or anything, but why couldn't that crazed killer named Cho, who shot up all of those people at that Virginia Tech University, why couldn't he have been an angry Firefly fan? Also with that said wouldn't it have been a hoot(depending on how you view it) if he had paid FOX executives who had a hand in canceling our show a little visit instead of taking his frustrations out on the people at that school he went too? That crazed kid's energy went in the wrong direction if you ask me. Just a thought, and also wish me a Happy Birthday. -River

MAGHAFFAR

Just got my Amazon order 4 days early -- they said it would show up on the 12th. 'bout 2 months back I ordered the FF viz companion vol. 1 and 2 plus the Serenity viz companion plus the Finding Serenity: anti-heroes book, so Amazon held the entire order until the FF viz companion vol.2 was in. Here y'all go... [passes out drool cups or bibs, as needed.]